


A Child Lost, A Villain Killed

by Emme2589



Series: A Trio of Heroes [4]
Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Graphic Description, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Interrogation, Isolation, Kidnapping, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Multi, No Smut, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Panic Attacks, Past Character Death, Past Drug Addiction, Past Drug Use, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Drama, Romantic Fluff, Strong Language, Suicidal Thoughts, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Torture, and a few innuendos, autistic characters, charles is trans, everyone says fuck, i lied theres two shower scenes, its not graphic but it is talked about, someone gets shot, though there is a cute shower scene, threats of suicide, triple threat is bisexual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:02:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 49,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emme2589/pseuds/Emme2589
Summary: Henry learns that the Russian government has a prisoner that they're convinced he cares about. What follows is a cascade of secrets revealed and old wounds reopened that leaves him gasping for air.What is this pain in his chest? And why won't it go away?Sequel toA Hero Lost, A Hero Gained.
Relationships: Charles Calvin/Ellie Rose, Charles Calvin/Ellie Rose/Henry Stickmin, Charles Calvin/Henry Stickmin, Henry Stickmin/Ellie Rose
Series: A Trio of Heroes [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971646
Comments: 27
Kudos: 121





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so it's possible I may have gone a little overboard this time. This story contains graphic depictions of mental illness and torture. Let me know if I need to bump up the rating from T to M.
> 
> EDIT: I gave it more thought and decided to bump up the rating. I think it's a bit too graphic for a Teen rating.

"Well well well...look who finally decided to wake up..."

It was a familiar line, but the voice was off. It sounded like Reginald, but it couldn't be him. He was dead, right? Vinschpinsilstien wouldn't bring him back.

Maybe I was in some kind of fever dream. Was I sick? I didn't remember.

I forced my eyes open. I was tied to a chair in a steel room that was empty aside from a table and four people. Myself, Reginald, Right Hand Man, and the person tied to the opposite chair.

"Charles?" I saw that while my hands were tied behind my back, Charles' hands were duct taped to the surface of the table. In particular, his organic hand had a strip of tape over each finger, his forearm haphazardly taped down firmly while Right Hand Man sharpened a knife beside him.

"It's good to see you again, Henry." Reginald twirled his moustache around his finger, "How have you been? Staying out of trouble? Hiding in a small apartment like a coward?"

I swallowed, but said nothing. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to tear him a new one, but I didn't trust my voice to work without letting loose the sob trapped in my chest.

Charles' lip quivered as his eyes darted between Reginald and me, _"H-Hen...?"_

I bit my lip, trying to reassure him through my gaze that everything would be okay. I trembled beneath the bindings, my throat sore from holding back tears.

"No worries. We don't plan on hurting you, or your friend here." Reginald leaned over the table, his breath in my face. He smelled like caviar, and some expensive cologne, which made me gag, "We just have to ask where your new headquarters is. You know the one, right?"

I spit on his face, and it landed in his eye. He flinched, squeezing that eye shut and losing his smile.

"Fine." he jumped back, rubbing his eye before taking the knife from Right Hand Man, "We have our ways of getting information."

I scoffed, "Torture me all you want. You might as well kill me."

"Oh no! Not you, silly!" Reginald let the knife hover over Charles' bound right hand.

In my shock, I found myself studying the knife. It was a serrated military knife, about twelve inches long, with a pointed end and a curved black handle.

"Impressive, is it not?" Reginald laughed, his old-timey British accent getting thicker with his glee, "Maybe this question will be easier to answer; Charlie, which finger do you value the least?"

Charles was shaking by now. He tried to pull his arm away, but Right Hand Man wrapped his arms around his shoulders, holding him in place and bringing tears to Charles' eyes.

_"Stop!"_ I thrashed in my chair as Reginald brought the knife closer and closer to Charles' pinkie finger.

"Tell us where the new base is, Henry." Reginald gently lay the blade against Charles' knuckle between the strips of duct tape, "Or the finger comes off."

I trembled looking into Charles' eyes, as looking anywhere else made my panic crank up to 11.

"Don't tell 'em, Henry." Charles didn't even bother to force a smile, simply staring into me with pleading eyes, "So many people will die if you give away their location. Don't say anything."

I felt my voice shaking as I replied, _"B-b-but what about y-you...?"_

"Time is running out, Henry..." Reginald pressed the blade to Charles' pinkie, making the skin cave as Charles shook even more violently, "Three..."

"Don't do it, Henry!"

"Two..."

"Don't worry about me!"

"This is your final warning..."

I threw my head forward, but the chair was bolted to the floor, "DON'T! DON'T HURT HIM DON'T DO IT-!"

"Too late!"

In one swift chop, Charles' finger came clean off. Blood filled the spaces between the duct tape as Charles sucked in a breath of air, biting his bottom lip in an attempt to not scream.

I stared at the severed finger until Reginald tore the tape from the table, taking the finger with it, and I retched.

"Righty, put this in the ice." Reginald handed the finger to Right Hand Man, who procured a bowl of ice, "We will reattach these if you give us the information we want."

"Never!" Charles' voice broke, tears pouring down his face, "Henry, don't talk! You'll be protecting people! Think of all the recruits no older than eighteen! They're practically children!"

"I wonder how many fingers you need to pilot a helicopter..." Reginald slid his palm across the blunt edge of the blade, "Aren't you curious, Righty?"

Charles couldn't hold back a sob, whimpering as his teeth broke the skin of his lip and blood trailed down his chin.

"STOP! LET HIM GO! DON'T DO THAT!"

"Give us our information, Henry." Reginald brought the knife to Charles' throat, pressing oh so gently into his adam's apple, "And don't even think about lying. If we find out you lied, the pilot dies."

I struggled against the restraints again, but it only made my wrists hurt.

_"Don't talk, Henry."_ Charles just barely managed to squeak out, _"I'll lose my whole hand if I have to. It's okay. We can't let innocent people die."_

I ground my teeth together. I knew he was right. I knew he was right, and yet...

I...

_I can't..._

Reginald positioned the knife over Charles' ring finger next. It still had a scar from the last time he got into a fight. I retched again, forcing myself to swallow even as the bile shooting up my throat hurt like I was swallowing lava. I gagged and sputtered, Reginald's wrist cocking back to slice-!

"THEY'RE IN CANADA!"

Reginald brought the knife away from Charles' hand, his eyebrow raised.

I swallowed again, relaxing a little now that the knife was no longer such a threat, "They're in Canada. There's this tiny Island off the coast of Newfoundland, the southern shore in view. It looks like a tiny cabin hidden in the trees. You can't miss it."

Charles gazed at me in utter betrayal. I tried to ignore it.

"Well, now. That wasn't so hard, was it?" Reginald sheathed the knife, "Righty, get the medic to reattach the pilot's finger."

Reginald removed the duct tape from Charles' arm, and the medic sewed the finger back into place before wrapping it in bandages.

"Henry." Charles stared at me with a look I'll never forget, "What have you done?"

My eyes flew open in the darkness, my heart pounding hard in my ears. I was alone in the bedroom. I scrambled for my phone. Five am.

Was that real? I legitimately couldn't tell if that was just a dream or not, but I wasn't about to take any chances. I dialed Charles' number before putting the phone to my ear.

_Please pick up please pick up please pick up please-!_

_"Henry! Hey, how's it going? You're not usually up this early!"_

I exhaled, black spots dancing in my vision, "Hey, Charles. Sorry to bother you, but...are you okay? You on a mission right now?"

_"Huh? N-No, uh, I just got back from one, actually. Yeah, it went pretty smoothly. Why?"_

I took a deep breath, "C-Can you come home? I need to see you."

_"Um, of course, Henry. I'm on my way."_

He hung up, and I anxiously paced around the room, my phone held tight to my chest. Was it a dream? _Was it?_ After a few more minutes of pacing, I quickly dialed the number for the general, chewing on my nails as it rang.

_"Henry? What's going on? You almost never call me."_

"Hey, uh...this might be an odd question, but has anyone attacked since the crime ring raid?"

_"What? No? Henry, what is this about?"_

"Sorry, I just..." I suddenly felt silly, calling because of something like this. I stared at my striped socks against the fluffy white carpet, "I...had a bad dream, I think. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't real."

_"Oh, I see. Don't worry, my men have reported nothing unusual. If it would help put your mind at ease, I can update you in case of an attack."_

"That won't be necessary. I just wanted to make sure you guys were safe. I'll talk to you later."

_"Bye, Soldier."_

Forty agonizing minutes after I'd called Charles, The front door opened and shut, and I hurried out to see if it was him.

"Hi, Henry." Charles pulled me into a hug, giving me a brief kiss with his hands laced behind my back, "You alright?"

I scrambled for his right arm, pulling the sleeve back to look at his fingers. They were all perfectly intact, no hint of any severing whatsoever.

"Henry?"

I looked up at him, dropping his hand and huddling into his chest, my fingers finding purchase on the fabric of his shirt, "Right, yeah. I'm fine."

He held me close, running a hand up and down my back, "Nightmare?"

I shuttered, "I don't know. I think so."

He gave me a gentle squeeze, "You don't know?"

"Well...you've never had any...like...severed fingers, right?"

Charles sighed, "No, Hennee. I guarantee, my fingers are and always have been intact."

I relaxed at the silly nickname he'd given me some time ago. I don't think even Ellie knew that he called me that.

"Hey, it's alright. I have no more missions today. I can stay with you, if you want."

I stared down at his red sneakers. One of the laces had come undone.

"You don't have to."

"Aw, Hen." Charles' moved his hands to my face, placing his forehead against mine, "I'd love nothing more! As soon as Ellie gets home, it'll be a proper party!"

I felt goosebumps prickle all over my skin as a cold shiver shot up my spine. Reginald had said that to me once, and his cruel smile was still burned into the back of my eyelids.

"Please don't say that. Please."

"Oh, sorry. Um, hey, seriously, are you okay?"

"Don't say it'll be a proper party. Don't say it. Reginald said that to me before he tried to kill you. Don't say it like this."

"Oh..." Charles guided me to the couch, "Hey, listen to me, Hen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? It's just me. Hey, look at me."

I did.

He ran his thumb over my cheek, "It's just me."

I couldn't maintain eye contact. I broke away from his hold, sitting on the couch and putting my head in my hands.

"Charles?"

"Mhm?"

"How much longer can this last?" I looked up at him as he pushed his headphones onto his shoulders, "The longer we live in peace with nothing new happening, the more I feel like this whole building is just going to explode and kill us."

"Henry..."

"I can't take it, Charles! I feel like I'm going crazy!"

Charles knelt in front of me, touching my mouth to get me to stop talking. He moved his hand to my cheek, his other on my knee. I shut my mouth, swallowing thickly as he scrutinized me. It always felt so intimate when he stared at me like this. He'd been in the military for a long time, so he was hardened in a way many others his age weren't, and we had been together long enough that I knew when he was just thinking and when he was looking me over to try and determine what _I_ was thinking.

I bit my lip and wrung my hands together before he finally spoke, "Sometimes, when we're surrounded by danger on all sides for a long time, finally being safe can be a huge shock. It can even be such a shock that we don't trust the safety and insist to ourselves that it's only the calm before the storm. Tell me, Henry; Were you telling the truth before? Have you not felt this level of safety since you were twelve?"

I had to think about it before I gave my answer, "Well...after my mom died, I went to live with my aunt for awhile. One of the good ones. I recovered from the trauma of my mom's death by running away, same as when I lost you, and I felt better after that, but it was only a few days later when I broke my leg, and that's when I got addicted to the opioid painkiller in the hospital. After that, I dropped out of high school. The addiction made keeping up with schoolwork impossible. Once I recovered from that, I tried to rob that bank, and...well, you know the rest."

"Ouch, dude." Charles gave my hand a squeeze, "So I was right. You're so used to tragedy that bracing for impact is your default state. You don't know how to really relax. I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner, Hen."

"Wha-Why are _you_ apologizing?"

"Because I should have known. Remember when we first met? Not on the airship mission, but in the cafeteria on the base? I could tell you were uncomfortable with me, but I figured it was just social awkwardness or something. I didn't think it was because you were still bracing for impact."

"No, you're misunderstanding." I stood up to quickly put distance between us, "I..."

Oh, hold on. I couldn't tell the truth here. Shit.

"You...what?" Charles shrugged towards me, "If I'm wrong, then please correct me."

I can't lie to Charles. He'd see through it in a heartbeat, but if I told him the truth...

I rubbed my lips together, letting my arms drop. Maybe if I simply changed the subject, he'd see I was uncomfortable with the topic and drop it. I could only hope, right?

"Fine. You win. Listen, I can't just make myself stop. What do you suggest I do if I'm traumatized to the point of irrationality?"

Charles brought a hand to his chin, "I don't know, but you can start by breathing."

I sucked in a breath of air, making black spots dance in my vision, "Oh. Yeah."

"Here, maybe you should come with me and Ellie to work tomorrow." Charles snaked his arms around my waist, "Maybe if you see that we aren't in danger when we're away, it'll help you relax."

I tried to resist his embrace at first, but I gave up pretty quickly and buried my face in his shoulder instead, my arms held tight to my chest.

"You're shaking." Charles squeezed me, swaying back and forth in a rocking motion, which he knew I loved, "It's alright. I'm here. It's gonna be okay."

"You don't know that."

"You were horribly unlucky. You faced so much abuse in your life, and when you tried to climb out of it, you were treated like a criminal."

"But how do I get rid of this feeling?"

"You can't, really. You just have to get used to this."

"What if I never do?"

Charles let his left arm fall. I could tell he was looking at his cybernetic hand.

"Then I'll still be here." he said, "Even if we're separated again. Even if I get caught in another explosion, I'll find my way back to you somehow, because even if we weren't dating, you're still one of the best friends I've ever had, and I think you're worth fighting for."

"Ch-Charles..." I bit back a whimper, "God, I don't deserve you."

"Incorrect." Charles kissed my forehead, "You didn't ask for any of that shitty stuff. You tried to cope and it made everything worse. Don't be so hard on yourself."

He said it sort of like a command, so I gave up arguing as he continued to sway with me held tight to his chest, keeping my fearful thoughts to myself as I cried into his shirt.

***


	2. Chapter 2

I moved swiftly under the cover of darkness, the cop car in my peripheral vision as I approached the huge brick building, the name of some corporation carved into the side. I checked my pockets for lockpicks before approaching the front door. Checking over the lock, I noticed that it was actually pretty good. Locks with more tumblers were harder to pick, and this one was also made of some sturdy stuff. It wasn't likely to break, and if I tried to pick this lock, I'd be at it for a good five minutes trying to keep the tumblers from falling back into the chamber.

That's when I noticed that one of the screws was loose.

_"Ugh. Seriously?"_ I said softly to myself, looking around to make sure the cop hadn't noticed me yet. I pushed against the door, seeing the screw jiggling in the doorknob, and as quickly and quietly as I could, I rammed my shoulder into the lock, and the whole mechanism on the door frame snapped off, falling to the ground. It clanged against the concrete, and I cringed, my eyes flicking up to the cop on the street, but he must not have heard, because his eyes were glued to his phone. He reminded me of Rupert, back when he was a jailer after I was arrested the first time, except this guy looked to be no older than 20, and he sort of looked like he didn't want to be there.

I was getting distracted. I held my breath, waiting for anyone else that might have heard me, but when nothing happened, I carefully pushed the door open. The screws holding the door knob to the door weren't long enough, so they had easily come loose with a bit of strain.

Once I was inside, I looked around. The building was a typical corporate building, but without the huge glass windows. I didn't trust elevators, especially on the job, so I took the stairs all the way up to the top floor. The final door to the stairwell was locked. The lock looked to be bolted in place, but it also had some rust on it, so I took one of my lockpicks out and pressed my ear to the door, listening to the telltale shifting and clicking of the tumblers that was music to my ears. I tried to be gentle as I twisted the doorknob. It was stuck, so I fiddled with it a little longer until the knob suddenly caved and the door swung open.

_"Whew."_ I felt my skin prickling as I headed down the hallway, pocketing the lockpick as my shoes tapped on the marble floor. I don't know what it is about these corporate buildings at night, but they're _creepy._ Something about the business furniture and stuff covered by nightfall and eerie silence...I loved it, it was like being on a rollercoaster to me, but still.

Finally, I found the CEO's office; A huge door with gold and silver accents bearing the CEO designation tag. I rolled my eyes. The dude who sat behind this door probably used a solid gold toilet and wiped his ass with dollar bills.

This door was locked too. The door itself looked sturdy enough, but the lock had clearly seen better days, so after checking it over for weak points, I took out one of my lockpicks and inserted it into the lock. Immediately, I applied too much pressure, and the pick snapped inside the lock, _"Shit."_ I dropped the broken handle and got a new one out to fish the broken tip from the lock. Rookie mistake. I internally chastised myself as I tried again, more gently this time. This is why I always carried more than one lockpick. It was easy to get impatient.

Once the lock gave way, I pushed myself into the office. It glittered with a smooth, gold-plated finish, with a fancy chandelier and big picture windows. I felt a little out of place in there in my scuffed-up sneakers, torn blue jeans, and faded hoodie, but I also had the painful urge to swipe something for myself. It's not like this big wig would even notice anything was gone, but after an uncomfortably long debate in my head, I decided against it. I'd worked so hard to get to where I am now, and if anyone discovered I was stealing again, all of that progress would go down the drain.

I opened the drawers of the desk, rummaging around until I'd found a file full of dubious tax returns. I only skimmed them to confirm their worth before tucking the folder under my arm and heading back outside.

I didn't bother sneaking out. I just pushed my way through the front door and walked right up to the cop.

He looked up from his phone, "Oh, you're done already?"

"Yep." I pat the folder at my side, "Just checking in. You got the form?"

"Sure do." he pocketed his phone before opening the door to the cop car and handing me the paper and a pen.

"Nice." I clicked the pen and skimmed the document before I scrawled my signature onto it at the bottom, "There you go."

"Thank you very much."

"Who are you?"

"Oh, uh, Officer Boulevard, sir. I'm new to the force."

I tried not to flinch too much, "Please don't call me sir. Just Henry is fine."

"Oh, no problem. Sorry."

"It's cool." It was such an odd feeling, being called "sir" by a cop. I swallowed, the adrenaline from the heist fading into a cold sweat, "Well, I'm gonna go finish up my contract. See ya later."

"Have a good night!" he pulled his phone back out as I walked away, and I shivered involuntarily. I hadn't been hurt by a cop since I was an active criminal, but even when they were being pleasant and nice, I couldn't help but remember the fear of getting caught with drugs and having to go through withdrawal in jail. That terrified me for years even after I got clean. It really stuck with me.

A shadow moved in my peripheral vision, and I froze on the sidewalk. I'd clashed with other criminals before, so I knew how to handle myself in a fight. Charles left me his military-issued pocket knife in case I needed to defend myself against one, but I also had a can of pepper spray that I preferred to use over anything sharp. I carefully felt over the front of my hoodie, making sure I had it on me before slowly turning to the place I'd seen the shadow.

The figure wasn't interested in me, though. The person, clothed all in black with heavy boots and a ski mask to cover their head, was climbing up to the second story window of one of those weird businesses that sold essential oils to moms on social media, fiddling with the frame until the pane of glass came off and they carefully climbed inside. Huh. Well _that_ was interesting. I slid the folder into my hoodie as I snuck into the alley beside the window, and a sack filled with something cloth-like as well as something distinctly metallic flew out a few minutes later, the figure replacing the window pane before dropping down to the pavement and shouldering the sack. I was close enough that when they swept their gaze around under the light of a street lamp, I caught a flash of ruby-red eyes before they ran away.

A smile broke out across my face as I fell back into the shadows, sneaking across the street until the burglar had stopped to catch their breath, by which point I wrapped my arms around them and tackled them to the ground, ripping the sack from their grasp. They let out a strangled gasp as I yanked the ski mask off, revealing wild red hair.

"Did you really think that was a good idea?" I teased.

"Henry!?" Ellie glowered at me, "Jesus Christ, you scared the crap out of me!"

I got to my feet, extending my hand to her to help her up, the sack in my other hand.

"Now, let's see what you've got in here..." I opened the sack, revealing a mountain of bills and coins.

"Give that back!" she snatched it away from me and cinched the opening closed.

"Do you really want to steal that? Won't Charles be disappointed that you've gone back to petty theft?"

"Well, yeah, but..." she shot me a suggestive wink, "Charles doesn't have to know..."

I crossed my arms, tapping my foot as I held her stare. She dropped the sack beside us.

"You're not gonna say anything, right Henry?" Ellie slowly slid her gloved hands up my chest towards my shoulders, "Those people are scum anyway. They don't deserve it. I could do so much good with this money, you know. I can get it back to the victims of their scheme."

She laced her hands behind my neck, which made me shiver, but I ignored it, hiding it behind a harder glare, "You're right, Ellie. I won't say anything, but Charles will still find out. You know he will."

Her smile fell.

"It's not that they deserve to keep that money, either. You're right, those people are thieves themselves, but if you go back to robbery, you could get me and Charles in a lot of trouble. Not to mention you have a huge job in the military, and if you sour that reputation, you're going to cause a huge scandal! You have too much to lose!"

Ellie's smile slowly returned as she fluttered her eyelashes, which she _knew_ made my stomach flip, and she was most certainly using it to her advantage, "Trust me, Henry; I know what I'm doing."

I could physically feel the frustration building in my chest, but I let it go with a long sigh, "Fine, I trust you, but please, don't do anything stupid."

"You have my word." she stood on her tiptoes to kiss me before replacing the ski mask over her head and running off with the sack.

I had a bad feeling about letting her go like that, but after the hectic evening I'd just had, I was all too ready to just go home and pass out on the couch with my cheesy late-night cartoons for company.

I just really hoped she _did_ know what she was doing.

***


	3. Chapter 3

"Charles to base; Entering Canadian airspace now, at an altitude of twenty five thousand feet. The sky is clear, wind speed nominal."

Charles tweaked the controls on the helicopter that honestly looked pretty complicated to me, but he obviously knew what he was doing. He didn't even look at the dash half the time, instead fixing his gaze firmly on the coastline from Maine to Quebec.

Once we were on a steady path, he turned on the autopilot, letting go of the steering wheel as it moved ever so slightly by itself to maintain its level. He smiled at it, a hand on his chin.

"What are you doing?" I asked from the copilot seat.

"I made some tweaks to the autopilot." He explained, "One of our programmers hooked me up with a smoother pathfinder, using the sensors and the built-in radar system as aids!"

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I wasn't about to spoil that for him, "Cool."

"How can you keep all of that straight in your head?" Ellie called from the cargo bay, "There are so many buttons!"

"Yeah, but they all have a purpose!" Charles replied, "You know what everything on your keyboard does, don't you? Not just the keys themselves, but the shortcuts and hotkey function!"

"Ah, well, you got me there."

"Oh! Before I forget!" Charles fiddled with the zipper on his green bomber jacket, "The general said he's been meaning to talk to you about something, Henry. That's part of why you're coming with us today."

I asked if it was something bad.

"I doubt it. He woulda seemed more urgent if it was."

I must have seemed really nervous, because Charles placed a hand on my arm.

"Hey, Henry, it'll be fine. I'll go with you if it'll make you feel better."

_Charles, I would literally die for you. You could murder me and I'd thank you for it._

I didn't say that though. What I actually said was, "No, it's okay. Just...concerned, you know?"

"Right, okay. Just a heads-up." Charles spoke into his headset again, "Charles to base, I'm approaching the helipad. Permission to land?"

_"Base to Charles, permission granted."_

Ellie opened the cargo bay door, getting blasted in the face with the stinging cold air as she shouldered one of the parachutes. When we were about 8,000 feet up, Ellie jumped, screaming at the top of her lungs as she fell rapidly towards the ground, making the "rock out" symbol with both hands.

I whispered softly to Charles', making sure his microphone was turned off, _"Wow. Imagine if she screamed that loud in our room."_

Charles' face turned bright red as he shoved me, _"Henry!_ We are at _work!"_

I laughed, holding my hands up in surrender, "Sorry! You're just so cute when you get all flustered like that."

He avoided my gaze as he guided the helicopter down to the helipad on the base. Once we'd landed, he shut the vehicle off and took a deep breath.

"Come on, Charles. You love me."

He deflated dramatically, "Yeah, I do."

I kissed his cheek as he rose from the chair, and we left to see that Ellie had already taken her parachute off and was hurrying towards us.

Ellie kissed Charles first, "So, how're my two favorite boys?"

Charles melted into the affection, his voice just squeaking out, _"Good."_

"Hey, Ells." I brought her in close to me as she reached up to take my face, and I instinctively crouched a bit so she could reach, "Do you have to go skydiving every time we land?"

"No, but it's a bit more time-efficient, isn't it?" Ellie was red-faced and out of breath from her fall, "It's nice having you here again. As much as I love Charles, I've been missing you lately."

"I've missed you too." I held her in a hug for just a second too long before one of the other soldiers cleared their throat and I reluctantly let her go, "Six pm?"

"Yep. See ya then."

They left, and I stuffed my hands in my pockets as I headed inside the cabin. It was deceptively large, as the basement that had been carved out underneath the land was large enough that it was partially underwater, surrounded by a concrete barricade with a system that could rapidly drain water in the event of a flood. Most soldiers that were there recognized me and shot me polite smiles and waves, though some of the younger recruits tried to avoid eye contact, maybe because I was so prolific by now that they thought I could get them in trouble? I don't know, but I steered clear of them, not wanting them to feel watched or hovered over. That always bothered me when I was younger.

The general's office door was open, so I knocked on it as I walked inside, "General?"

He looked up from whatever he was reading at his desk, "Ah, Henry. I've been waiting for you. How are things?"

"Good." I glanced at the document, "Uh, sir, that document is upside down."

He looked at it again, "Ah. So it is. Nevermind that, did Charles tell you the situation?"

"Well, he told me there _was_ one, but I got the feeling this is an in-person sort of conversation...?"

Galeforce gestured to the chair across from him over the desk, and I took the seat, anxiously bunching the fabric of my jeans in my fists as they rested on my thighs.

"It's not bad news, is it?"

"No, not bad. Just shocking." Galeforce folded his hands on the desk, "You see, when you called two nights ago, I was a bit concerned about what had happened to you, but I didn't want to scare you by calling you here immediately. Charles clocked out right before I got your call, so I figured that he was on his way home at your request."

My gaze dropped into my lap as I felt my face heat up.

The general laughed, "I understand. You seemed pretty shaken on the phone, it's only natural to want company. Anyway, that's when I called him up and asked him to make sure you were safe. He got back to me the next day. It seemed like perfect timing because, well..."

He paused long enough that I had to resist the urge to squirm in my seat.

"Okay, don't be too surprised, but the Russian Government is asking for you."

"Asking...?" I felt a rock drop into my stomach, and I squeezed my jeans harder to stop my hands from shaking.

"Hey, Soldier. Henry." he leaned over the desk to lift my chin, "Listen; You aren't in trouble. This is just something you should know about."

I tried to speak, but my voice wasn't working.

"Henry." he says quieter, "You need to breathe. Nothing is going to happen to you. You're surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and twenty feet of concrete and bedrock on all sides. You're going to be okay. You need to breathe, okay? Can you hear me?"

I tried to listen, my eyes burning as the tears spilled over. My chest was tight, but I forced it to expand as I took in huge gulps of air. Once I had stopped shaking so much, Galeforce retreated to his chair.

"What's your name?"

"What?" I thought about it, realizing it was a sanity check, "H-Henry Stickmin."

"Where are you right now?"

"I'm...in the Newfoundland base. Canada. Underground basement."

"Who am I?"

"General Hubert Galeforce."

"And who is the famous defense lawyer from America who will stop at nothing short of a not guilty verdict?"

"Felix White."

Galeforce passed me a box of tissues, "Good. Are you okay?"

"I don't know, sir." I took a tissue and wiped my tears away with it, "I'm scared. Are you aware of what happened last I was in Russia?"

"I'm fuzzy on the details, but I know that you were kidnapped and held prisoner at The Wall. That complex has been shut down, though, so I have no idea why they're asking for you now."

The office phone suddenly rang, and I lept a foot in the air, my heart thundering against my ribcage.

Galeforce left his chair to take the phone off its cradle on the wall, putting a finger to his lips as he held it to his ear, "Listen, I don't know how you got this number-!"

_"He's on base, isn't he?"_

The voice made my blood run cold. It wasn't familiar to me, but it did have a thick Russian accent. It slithered over me like the breath of a wild animal, and it made me violently shiver as I dropped the tissue, but Galeforce made an "at ease" gesture with his hand, and I covered my mouth, my arms close to my body as I nodded.

"What's it to you?" Galeforce had clear annoyance in his voice, but not enough to be accused of disrespect, "What my soldiers are up to is none of your concern. I explain this every time you call, and calling more often isn't going to change my mind."

"You are a stubborn old man, I'll give you that. Just pass on the message. I know he's with you right now, so don't even bother trying to hide it. He'll find out one way or another."

The caller hung up, and Galeforce apathetically put the phone back on the wall.

"Hey, General!" Charles stepped into the office, "I finished up training early today, so I thought I'd..."

He trailed off when he noticed the atmosphere. I was facing away from him, so for one fleeting moment I considered trying to compose myself so he wouldn't worry about me. Yeah, that wasn't happening. I was a total wreck.

"Henry?" Charles knelt beside me, taking my hand and touching my shoulder, "Henry, are you okay? What's going on?"

Galeforce sighed, sitting back down at his desk.

"General, please tell me what happened."

Galeforce nodded towards me, "I'll tell you when Henry is calm."

It was getting harder to breathe. I didn't realize how bad it was until darkness was encroaching on all sides. My thoughts slowed, my hearing muffled like I was dunked underwater. I swayed, on the verge of losing consciousness.

Seeing this, Charles picked me up in one smooth motion, sitting cross-legged on the ground and holding me in his lap. He squeezed me tight to his body, my head in the crook of his neck, and barely daring to breathe, he whispered in my ear, _"Hennee, can you hear me? You need to breathe, okay? Can you feel me? I'm right here. It's me, it's me. Shhh."_

I could still feel myself shaking, but I tried to obey. He placed a hand on my back as I took steadying breaths in and out. I squeezed my eyes shut, inhaling the scent of motor oil and cheap cologne that always seemed to stick to him as I tried so hard to keep breathing.

_"Slower. You need to take longer breaths, Hen. Breathe in, as long as you can, hold it, and then let it go. I'll help you, okay? It's gonna be okay."_

I slowly relaxed against him as he deepened his breaths, his mouth still next to my ear, holding my arms to my body like I was a child in need of consoling. Eventually, I wasn't panicking anymore. I just felt drained.

Charles took my hand, rubbing circles into it with his thumb, "Are you okay now, Hen? Can you hear me?"

I huddled closer to him, my voice nothing more than a croak, _"Y-yeah. Sorry."_

"Don't apologize. It's okay."

I didn't notice that Galeforce had stood up again to close the door. He knelt in front of us, and I tried to avoid his gaze.

"What's your name?"

"Henry Stickmin."

"Where are you right now?"

"US military base. Newfoundland. Canada. Underground basement."

"What's my name?"

"General Hubert Galeforce."

"Who is holding you right now?"

He asked the last question a bit softer. I took another deep breath, "Charles Calvin. Special Ops pilot."

"That's right. Charlie is here, and he's with you." the general rose his gaze to meet Charles' huge smile.

I exhaled, slow and steady. I took my hand out of Charles' grasp and rested it on his cheek. He held my wrist as I lifted my gaze to meet his. Galeforce returned to his desk as Charles stood up and placed me on my feet, that smile still plastered all over his face.

I steadied myself on his shoulders, "I...I'm so sorry, that's never happened to me before."

"It's cool, man. Don't apologize." Charles held my hands, gently swaying back and forth, which made me laugh, "Do you feel safe now?"

"A little." I let go of him, "I don't understand. I'm not afraid of the Russian government. Why would this make me panic so much?"

"Sometimes we can't explain our responses in potentially dangerous situations." Galeforce gestured to the chair once again, "Now, I think you'd better listen to the rest of what I have to say."

I took the chair again, and Charles stood beside me, one hand on the chair.

"Y-yes, sir." I tried to keep my breathing steady, "I'm listening."

"Good. Now, they must have informants nearby or something, because I have no idea how they figured you were here, but regardless, the Russian government is asking for you. As in, they want to take you under their custody. I originally wasn't going to tell you this, because I said no and thought that would be the end of it, but this person who refuses to identify themself won't stop asking. It's like they think being more persistent is going to change my mind. What worries me is that they seem to really want you, which is baffling to me, because as far as I can tell, they have no reason to. However, you are _not_ legally required to give them any of your time. You are protected by my fleet and under US jurisdiction, so like it or not, taking you by force would be akin to kidnapping, and surely, that charge would negate any benefit they could possibly gain from your arrest."

I leaned forward, my chin in my hand as I soaked in the information.

"Here's what you need to remember;" Galeforce continued, "You need to stay within the US, or within a country on good terms with the US. If you ever left, whether to a neutral country or international waters, they could take you and legally claim it wasn't kidnapping. Once you're outside of our borders, there isn't much I can do to help you, so please, stay close to home. Can you do that for me?"

I shrugged, "I mean, I'm not sure where I would go if I left anyway. I can stay within those borders."

"Good. Thank you. I know you ain't technically one of my soldiers anymore, but I don't wish to see you get hurt."

"But what was it that guy on the phone was saying?" I straightened in my seat, glancing up to Charles to make sure he was still following, "He said he had a message to pass on? That I'll find out one way or another?"

Galeforce ground his teeth together, and I flinched backwards seeing him with such an uncharacteristic look of anger.

"Right. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you." Galeforce stood from his chair, and I felt Charles instinctively step closer to me, "I wasn't going to say anything, because frankly, I don't think it concerns you, but if you promise to keep quiet about this, I can fill you in."

"Of course, General."

"Yeah. We won't tell a soul." Charles promised.

"Wait, can we tell Ellie?"

I don't know what made me say that, but I had a feeling that keeping something like this from her was a bad idea.

"I don't see why she would need to know, but if you promise it ends with her..."

"You can count on us, General."

Charles seemed to be shaking, so I placed my hand over his on the chair. I think it helped him relax a bit.

"Alright." Galeforce sat down again, "They say they have a prisoner."

Charles shuffled his feet beside me, "A prisoner, sir?"

"Yeah. They won't identify the prisoner, though. I tried to press for more details, because who announces they have a prisoner without elaborating on that? But all I have is an age. The prisoner is eighteen years old, but other than that, I don't have a name, physical description, gender, anything. My guess is that they're trying to make you curious, but if we don't even know _why_ they have this prisoner, it seems kind of pointless to tell us about them. For all we know, they aren't even American. If they're Russian, then it really doesn't concern us, nor does it concern you."

I scratched my cheek as I stood from my chair, "And if they _are_ American?"

Something in my gaze must have tipped him off, because he quickly stood up to meet my gaze, though I tried not to tower over him. He wasn't upset with me, I don't think, but he was clearly trying to assert his authority, the badges on his military uniform catching the artificial light as he straightened up to his full height, though I still had a couple inches on him.

"Henry, I know you." Galeforce was using his general voice on me, which he hadn't done since he first offered to pardon me, "But I cannot allow you to get involved in this. Your life is in danger if you do. I forbid you from getting involved in this matter. I already have other soldiers making progress on it, and if you get seriously hurt in the crossfire, I will have failed you as a general. Do you understand?"

I crossed my arms, my own anger rising to match his, "If they wanted me to know they have a prisoner, then they must be keeping them _because_ they want me. If the prisoner really is eighteen years old, then maybe it would be worth it to-!"

"Did you not hear me, son?" Galeforce didn't waver, but he did let his expression soften, "I can't really keep you from getting involved, but at the very least, I _must_ ask that you use your best judgement."

I stepped away from the desk, "I will. I do have a request, though; I want any updates you can find on this prisoner. They clearly think I care about the fact that they have one, so I would like to be informed if I can't help."

"I can live with that." Galeforce waved me towards the door, "You're free to go, but keep in mind that I've seen many soldiers survive the line of fire, and I know what a trauma response looks like. If you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

I swallowed again, trying not to let my voice croak, "Okay. Thank you, sir."

By the time we left the base, Charles and I were quiet. Ellie immediately picked up on the tension, but neither of us really felt like talking about what we'd just heard. She was frustrated, but obviously she could tell it was serious, so she let it drop, albeit reluctantly.

Of course, I wasn't about to just give myself up to Russia. That would be stupid. I couldn't just go after this supposed prisoner, if they in fact existed at all. It wouldn't be worth it.

At least, that's what I told myself.

***


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up that morning to the sound of Charles' cell phone. He had his arms around me, his head resting on my shoulder. He sleepily rolled over and picked up the phone.

"Yeah, General?"

I smiled. He sounded so cute when he was sleepy.

_"There's been an emergency. I need you on the base ASAP."_

"No prob." he hung up, sitting up and climbing out of bed.

"Charles." I reached out, grabbing the hem of his nightshirt, "Don't go."

He carefully pried his shirt out of my grip, "Sorry, Hen. Duty calls an' all that, you know?"

"Charles..."

He quickly dressed and tied his shoes before grabbing his headset and heading out.

_"Chaaarllleees..."_

"I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" Charles called over his shoulder, "I promise."

He left, and I rested my arm in the space where Charles had been just moments prior. It was still warm.

Ellie wrapped her arms around me from behind, kissing the back of my neck, "What was that all about?"

I groaned, twisting around in her grasp to hold her torso against mine. She wasn't wearing anything from the waist up, and I shuttered from the feeling of her bare chest pressing up against my own.

"Don't worry. He'll be back before you know it."

Well, one of the perks to having two partners is that you still had someone if one person wasn't there, so I took comfort in Ellie's presence at least. She still had a huge scar all along her back from a previous mission, and she softly hummed as I ran my hand over it.

I smiled, my voice still full of grogginess, "You know, he's probably cheating on us with that helicopter of his."

She chuckled, shifting against me to kiss my collarbone, "It's kinda cute the way he obsesses over that thing. It...kinda reminds me of my brother..."

I pulled back to look at her, but she didn't meet my gaze, "You have a brother?"

"Yeah." she twisted a lock of hair around her finger, "He has pretty obvious Asperger's. His whole thing was typing. He can't talk, but he can type at like a hundred and fifty words per minute. It's insane. I remember he used to be a little wary around me when he was a baby, but one day I realized he did this thing all the time where he would take your hand and bop it against his forehead. It was like his way of saying 'I love you'. Once I figured that out, he started doing it to me constantly. He was practically glued to my side once he realized I could understand him."

"Aw. That's really cute."

"Yeah. He was a cool dude."

I gazed up at the window, where moonlight was spilling into the room between the curtains.

"Where is he now?"

Ellie didn't reply at first, just lost in her own thoughts as she ran her hand up and down my back, "I don't know. After I was chased down by The Wall, he disappeared, and we haven't seen him since."

I rested my cheek on her head, inhaling the scent of her ginger and rose shampoo, "Oh."

"I've been looking for him since the Toppat thing ended, but I can't find him anywhere."

The way she was clinging to me...I could tell that this had been weighing on her for a long time.

I pulled away from her, a hand on her cheek, "Would you like me to help you find him?"

Ellie frowned, "If you wouldn't mind? I'm really worried about him. He has really bad anxiety, and he doesn't communicate the same way other people do. He'd have a rough time out there by himself."

I let go of her to sit up, stretching my arms in the air, "What's his name?"

"Lincoln." she sat up next to me.

"Do you have any pictures of him?"

Ellie took her phone from the nightstand, scrolling through the pictures until she came across the older ones, "He hates being photographed, but I managed to get this one a few years ago."

She showed it to me. The boy in the picture had the same red hair as Ellie, long enough to cover his eyes, and his hands were covering his face in embarrassment underneath his bangs. He wore a dark blue t-shirt and black sweatpants, and he had elbow-length fingerless gloves over both hands.

"Do you have any of his face?"

She shook her head, "Not with me."

I swung my legs out over the side of the bed, rubbing my eyes and yawning, "I bet we can track him down. You don't have any missions today?"

"No."

I put my shoes on before rising to my feet, "If we can get legal documents for his identity, I bet we can find a trail. Can you contact your family and get what we need?"

"I'll try." she threw a shirt on before heading out into the hallway.

From 6 am to 9, I searched online records on my laptop while Ellie called up various family members to at least get us a lead, but any trails we found ran dry. Lincoln didn't have a driver's license, and he never had a job, so the last record we could find was from his high school in New York. Something about him made me pause, though. I had once vanished from the country without a trace, and so had Ellie.

I checked his birthday again, hoping I was wrong. No. If he was still alive, he was eighteen, the same age as the Russian prisoner.

Ellie leaned over my lap to look at the records I had pulled up in my documents page, "Henry?"

It broke me from my musing, "Sorry. Just thinking."

There's no way it could be him. It was too much of a coincidence. If Lincoln had been captured by The Wall at the same time as Ellie, we would have found him after the riot, or at least after The Wall shut down. A disabled American child in a high-security Russian prison was just too ridiculous of an idea to entertain, and yet it wouldn't stop nagging me. I couldn't help but linger in the "what-if"s.

A sudden knock at the door jolted us from the spell, "I'll get it." Ellie rose from the couch to go get the door. Whoever it was spoke in a hushed tone, and Ellie returned just as I was closing the lid of the computer to set aside for later.

"She says she's one of your aunts."

I instantly dropped to the floor, my voice a harsh whisper, "What? Ask for her name."

Sensing my urgency, Ellie obeyed without question, and she was back in a flash, "She says her name is Penelope."

I slowly lifted my head, getting to my feet and following Ellie to the door. Sure enough, when I opened it up again, I was greeted with a face I never thought I'd see again. She wore a simple pink dress, with pearls around her neck, and her hair was the same shade of brown as my mom.

Tears sprung in my eyes as I ran in for a hug, "Aunt Penny!"

She returned the hug gently, cradling me like she had when I was a child, "Henry! I was afraid I wouldn't find you here."

"How did you know where to find me!?" I backed away. I was so much taller than her now, "I thought the others wanted you to stay away!"

"Yes, but I heard about the Toppats, and I wanted to make sure you were okay." she took my face in both hands, "My, you've grown so much! You have so much more life in your eyes than I last saw you!"

I caught Ellie looking between us in confusion, so I took her hand, "Ellie, this is my Aunt Penny. She's my mom's sister. Aunt Penny, this is Ellie, my survival partner and my girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend!? Oh honey, it's so nice to meet you!" Penny shook her hand fervently.

"And a boyfriend." I threw in casually, holding my breath as her shocked gaze snapped back to me.

_"And_ a boyfriend!?" Penny grinned, "We have a lot of catching up to do!"

"I'll say! I really missed you, Penny." I rolled my shoulders as I scratched the back of my head, "Um, I'm really sorry for leaving the way I did, but I could tell my addiction was destroying you, and everyone else hated my guts for it. I just wanted you to be okay again."

"No! Henry! You completely misunderstand!" Penny took my hand, giving it a good squeeze, "I was destroyed because I so desperately wanted to help you! You're like a son to me, Henry. I'm ashamed you ever thought you were a burden on me."

"But I _was!_ I was addicted to _heroin!"_

"But it wasn't your fault! They gave you that painkiller in the hospital while you were unconscious! You were just a child... _and I failed you..."_

I tore my hand from her grasp, attempting to stuff both hands in my pockets, but I wasn't wearing anything with pockets in them, so instead, I just crossed my arms. It helped to feel a little closed off.

I looked up when Ellie placed her head on my shoulder. That's right, this wasn't the past anymore. Those days were behind me.

"Aunt Penny..." I started, one hand drifting to Ellie's on my chest, "How did you know I would be here?"

"Oh, it wasn't easy." she fiddled with her pearl necklace, "I mostly tried to follow from the news. I got word of the Toppat space station, and of the helicopter pilot that miraculously came back from the dead. I heard you were involved in it."

I let my head lull to the side.

Penny shut the door when it tried to open again, "But nevermind. That's not why I'm here. I wanted you to know that I still want you. You've always been wanted by me. And...there's something you should know. About your father."

My head snapped up, "M-my father?"

I didn't even know I had one as a kid. Nobody ever talked about him, and when I tried to ask, I was waved away, or given dismissive answers, even by my own mother.

"Yes..." Penny took a long, slow breath, "Your addiction wasn't the only thing that made our family hate you. You see...your father was a bit of a scumbag. He treated your mother badly, even to the point of verbal abuse. He kept pushing her, trying to force her into things she didn't want until..."

The world began to sway from underneath my feet.

"No. Penny, don't..." I took her shoulders in a weak grip, "...don't tell me that... _I'm a rape baby...?"_

The longer the silence stretched on, the more I felt the bile in my throat trying to force its way out. My knees began to shake as my aunt's gaze turned apologetic.

Finally, she quietly said, "Yes."

My legs gave out from under me, and Ellie just barely caught me before my head could hit the floor. My vision doubled as the floorboards gained excruciating detail, every sliver and grain of wood visible beneath the thick layer of vanir. Strangely though, I didn't feel sick anymore. I just felt cold. Cold and numb.

Penny knelt in front of me, holding my head up from where it had nearly snapped off my neck in my emotional whiplash, "Your mother never wanted you to know, but it shouldn't have been kept from you for this long. I'm sorry, honey."

I bit my lip, silently pleading for an explanation.

"She never would have told you." Penny began, "Even to the day she died, she still insisted it wasn't rape, but we all knew the truth. We saw the way she would avoid him, making excuses for why he wasn't around anymore. By the time you were born, she had cut all contact with him, and we haven't seen him since."

I trembled violently as Ellie squeezed my torso, "Henry, it's okay. You didn't ask for this. You need to breathe, okay?"

"That's right." Penny wiped a tear from my face, "The day you were born, your mother feared that she would see him in you, but when she held you in her arms for the first time, all she saw was you. She never regretted keeping you for a second. I still remember it as if it happened yesterday."

The world was still swaying. My chest heaved as I held back a sob, my lungs and throat burning like they were on fire.

_"I want to see her."_ I choked out, "I want to see her! I want to see my mom!"

But I couldn't. She'd been dead for thirteen years.

Penny pulled me into another hug, "Don't think any less of yourself, sweetheart. Your mother loved you so much, and so do I. I'll always be there for you. Please never doubt that."

I began to sob against her shoulder. Ellie continued to lean into my side, and I nuzzled her forehead to show her that her comfort was appreciated.

"Henry!?" Charles burst into the apartment, "Are you crying!? What happened!?"

I broke away from Penny, "Charles. Hi."

Charles slammed the door as he fell to the floor beside me, "Are you okay? Who is this?"

Penny's gaze went straight to Charles' left arm as I cleared my throat, "Charles, this is my Aunt Penny. Aunt Penny, this is my boyfriend Charles."

Charles hid his left hand beneath the sleeve of his jacket, "Why are you crying?"

I gazed between him and the other two, my mouth dry.

I lingered on Ellie. I hadn't even been that close to my mom back when she was alive, but somehow, the grief of losing her now that I knew what she'd been through was like losing her a second time.

The Russian prisoner flooded back to the front of my mind. If it really was Lincoln, however unlikely it was that it was him...

"Aunt Penny..." I said, "I think I need time to think."

***


	5. Chapter 5

_"I am not paying this much! You're ripping me off, you asshole!"_

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I paced with my phone to my ear, "We've been over this! It says clearly in the contract that _you wrote_ that I was supposed to break in all the way to your office! That's what I did! You agreed to the payment, too! You said it was fine!"

_"But I didn't think you could actually do it! My reputation is ruined now! I don't understand, I spent a fortune on that lock!"_

"I already told you a thousand times! Locks are meaningless without good screws! Did you seriously prepare for a heist from _Henry Bloody Stickmin_ by buying that one lock to the front door and leaving all the other locks untouched!? Even if that lock had worked in keeping me out, I could have just picked a different door, or even unlocked a window! I can do that too! It isn't hard!"

_"I'm not paying that ridiculous price for your abysmal service! The contract is off! Stop sending me invoices!"_

The CEO bigwig hung up, and I sighed. Well, if he wanted a lawsuit, I would be happy to oblige. He signed the contract. If he didn't want my service, he shouldn't have asked for it.

I threw my phone across the yard. I could hear Ellie and Charles sparring in the background as I seethed quietly, smoke practically pouring from my ears.

"Ah!" Charles stumbled back from Ellie's punch.

"You need to widen your stance." Ellie lifted her fists to block her face, "You keep getting thrown off-balance because you need a bigger base."

Charles crouched a bit, one leg behind him as he lifted his fists again, "Like this?"

"Good." Ellie kicked out, aiming for his knee, and he blocked it, "Good job. Don't be afraid to hurt an attacker to protect yourself."

I was getting sick of this. No news on the prisoner, no news on my other family members, and no news on the whereabouts of Lincoln. I was on the verge of trying something desperate.

Carefully sneaking away from the outside of the base, I descended the stairs in the cabin, passing by a bunch of soldiers in training as I searched the hallways for the right door. I passed by the general's office, pretending I was looking for something else, but the general wasn't there. Slowing my pace, I glanced around the hallway for any stray soldiers. There were a few, but they weren't looking at me, so I quickly jumped into the office and closed the door, locking it up and applying the dead bolt for good measure. Someone was bound to have noticed me by now, so I hurried to the phone. If my hunch was wrong, then all of this was pointless, but I was right.

The phone had a redial button.

I hit it. The area code was unrecognizable to me, so I hit call next and held the phone to my ear.

_Fuck, Galeforce is gonna kill me for this._

_"Went back on your promise so soon, old man? I'm surprised."_

My hands began to shake, "N-no, this is Henry Stickmin. I'm calling about that prisoner."

_"Oh."_ his tone of voice completely changed from annoyance to an almost sadistic pleasure, which made my shaking worse, _"I had a feeling you would not be able to resist."_

"Cut the bullshit, you creep." I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping I didn't sound as terrified as I felt, "Who's the prisoner? Tell me everything."

_"So impatient. Wouldn't you rather know why we want you?"_

"No I fucking wouldn't!" _god, please don't say it like that,_ "Just tell me who you have! And why I should care!"

_"Yes yes, of course."_ the clicking I could hear on the other end didn't help my state of mind. It sounded like fake nails on a metal surface, _"His name is Lincoln Rose."_

I felt a chill down my spine, as if someone dropped an ice cube down my shirt.

_"Henry!"_ Galeforce began to pound on the door, _"What the hell are you doing in there!? Get off the phone!"_

My gaze flicked up to the camera in the corner of the room. Yeah, this wasn't bound to last.

_"He is one hundred and fifty centimeters tall_ (4' 11"). _Forty four kilograms_ (97 pounds). _Red hair and red eyes_ (It matched the record). _Eighteen years old. Sound familiar?"_

_"Henry! Open this door right now!"_

The pounding continued, and I scrambled to hang up the phone. I had what I needed.

I unlocked the door and opened it up. Galeforce was practically red in the face from pure-blooded rage. I just stared at the floor, preparing to be reprimanded.

Charles and Ellie were there, too. Extra salt in the wound, I guess.

"Do you have..." Galeforce tried so hard to keep a level voice, but it shook nonetheless _"...any idea_...what you have just done?"

I quaked in my shoes, refusing to meet his eye, "Y-yes, sir. I...I snuck into your office and contacted the Russian government on the phone against your wishes."

"And do you understand why I'm upset about that?"

I fiddled with the ties on my hoodie, "Because...I betrayed your trust? And...because it could put my life in danger?"

Charles and Ellie shared a nervous glance with each other.

Galeforce slowly exhaled, "Why? What possibly possessed you to think this was a good idea?"

I kept my gaze firmly glued to the floor. I was faced with yet another difficult choice; Should I lie? Both Charles and Ellie knew me so well that any lie would bounce right off of them, not to mention that as a former field agent, a Special Ops pilot, and an army general, all three of them were well trained on interrogation tactics, so the odds were definitely stacked against me in that regard.

So, unable to think of a way to lie while stuck in a scenario where I couldn't bring myself to tell the truth, I simply said nothing.

Once I was quiet for a solid five minutes, Galeforce decided to fill the heavy silence, "Henry, if you don't tell me why you did this, I'm going to find out some other way. Is that what you prefer?"

Well, this was a total nightmare. I sucked in a breath of air. If he was going to keep pressing me, then there would be no way out.

"Henry."

Charles' voice made me look up. He touched my shoulder. I wanted to look away, but he looked so concerned for me. So sincere. He wasn't angry. I don't know why, but that was a huge relief to me. It definitely made breathing easier.

"Please. Tell us why."

My gaze turned to Galeforce and then Ellie. I didn't feel that same danger response as before, but I still felt like there was no easy way out.

Finally resigned to my fate, I took Charles' hand in my own, "I asked about the prisoner."

Ellie's eyebrows flew up.

_"Of course you did..."_ Galeforce massaged his forehead, "Well, I need to ask you to ignore the information. It easily could have been a lie, and your life is not worth it. I know you're probably going to ignore my advice, but please, just listen to me. I don't want to see you killed."

Was I really that predictable? I looked at the general again. His anger had faded.

"General, I'm sorry if I scared you." I clasped my hands in front of me, "I swear, I'll try to stay safe."

Okay, slight embellishment there, but it was enough truth that I sounded genuine enough.

Finally, the general waved his hand, "Alright. You're free to go."

I deflated, and Charles held his arms out in case I fell.

Galeforce shut his office door once inside, and the three of us made our way down the hall.

I think they understood my silence.

***

It wasn't enough to say what I was thinking. This week alone, I'd had the worst realistic nightmare of my life, a Russian government official jumped on my trail, I found out I was a rape baby, and I discovered that the Russian prisoner was no other than Lincoln Rose, Ellie's brother. It was Sunday evening now, the sun having gone down a couple hours ago, and no matter how I rationalized it, I just couldn't tell Ellie or Charles the full truth. Why? Why wouldn't the words come to me? Why had basic communication suddenly failed me so badly?

They were both asleep, but I was wide awake.

Finally, the urge to leave was too strong to ignore, and I rose from the bed, carefully climbing out of the covers and over the foot of the bed to ensure I wouldn't wake my partners. I got dressed before I ran to the kitchen and packed a backpack with military food and a change of clothes, as well as a few other things I knew I'd need, then I turned off my phone and placed it on the kitchen counter, patting myself down to make sure I had the pocket knife and pepper spray. Covering my head with a beanie and a scarf to hide my identity some, I put my wallet in my pants pocket and left the apartment. I drove to the bank to withdraw $5,000 in cash before cancelling my cards. I put the cash in my backpack and left the cards and my driver's license in the car. Finally, I left a note for Charles and Ellie before stashing my car keys in the glove compartment and heading off to the bus stop on foot.

_Where are you going?_

I paid $2.50 for an hour-long ticket on the bus. I didn't get off until it expired.

_Why are you running?_

I grit my teeth as I started my long trek out of the city, _I needed to get out of there._

_Why?_

_It's for them, okay? I love them._

_You're not doing this out of love. You're doing it out of fear._

Tears pricked in my eyes, _Shut up! You know nothing!_

_They're going to be upset with you._

_I can live with that!_

_And if you get yourself killed?_

I stopped walking, the tears dripping down onto the sidewalk below.

_You're no better than a criminal._

I stood in the empty street alone as the guilt ate me alive from the inside out. I quietly sobbed for a bit, figuring that if I was going to cry, I might as well do it while I was alone.

_You can't go back. What does that make you?_

I ignored the nagging voice in my head that was telling me that this was such a bad idea, because going back now wasn't an option. If I had stayed even a second longer, I'm sure the pressure would have suffocated me. I don't like relying on other people. I never could, so I learned self-reliance early on. Relying on other people, especially for protection, made me feel like the support would crack under me at any moment, and simply waiting around for something to happen made me feel so useless, it drove me insane. I simply couldn't stand that.

I would live with the consequences. Charles and Ellie might hate me for it. They might try to take my freedom away, put me under house arrest, or even press charges. Whatever happened, it would be fine.

Because they would be safe...unlike me.

It was an odd peace of mind. The guilty voice quieted as I picked up the pace again. The world would be better off without me anyway. If I died a hero, if everyone else could be saved because I gave myself up...

I would be happy.

I continued this thought process until I was too tired to travel, getting on the next bus over and heading into the neighboring city.

***


	6. Chapter 6

They realized something was wrong when they rolled towards each other and found nothing but an empty space between them.

Ellie noticed it first. Her arm landed on Charles' left bicep, which was running cool from the fans that kept the electronics in it functioning properly. Her eyes cracked open. She knew Henry went to sleep in the middle of the bed. He always did.

She noticed that the bedroom door was wide open. If Henry was up, he usually closed it behind him so he wouldn't wake them, unless he had only stepped out to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Then she noticed that the closet door was open too. It was usually never open at night, since Henry didn't like how it looked in the darkness, and so he always closed it to go to sleep.

Normally, she would have chalked this up to Henry simply having a spell of insomnia, but after what had happened the day before, seeing him so lost in thought, so distant, not to mention his breakdown after finding out about his father...

She suddenly felt wide awake as a pang of worry pierced her stomach, "Charles? Where's Henry?"

Charles rolled towards her, sensing the fear in her voice, "I'm sure he's here somewhere. It's fine."

"No, Charles. _Look."_

He did, seeing the open bedroom and closet doors in rapid succession. He came to the same realization, and both of them shared a look of horror before leaping from the bed and rushing through the hallway to the living room. They found Henry's phone on the counter, abandoned and turned off.

"Charles, go check his car!"

He ran from the apartment, not even stopping to put his shoes on as he ran barefoot down the stairs and into the tenets' parking lot. Henry's car was still there, but it was unlocked, and inside, he found Henry's wallet and car keys, as well as the note, stuck in the glove compartment between the wallet and a pair of gloves.

Meanwhile, Ellie checked the house for things that were missing. One of their backpacks as well as a bunch of survival supplies was gone, so she ran back to the bedroom to grab her phone, dialing the general's number with clumsy fingers.

She finished with that call just as Charles returned with the note, "Ellie, you have to see this."

He held it out to her, turning on the overhead kitchen light as they read.

_Hey, guys._   
_I'm sure you're wondering where I am. Don't worry, I'm not far away, and I'll be back as soon as I can. You know my habit of running away if it all becomes too much. Please don't blame yourselves. I love you._   
_See you later,_   
_Henry._

Charles' tears soaked into the paper. There were a lot of erased lines and the paper was slightly crinkled, as if Henry had rewritten this note many times.

Ellie put the note down, "Charles?"

She felt numb. She didn't want to be mad at Henry for leaving. After all, it was while he was running that he met her for the first time and saved her from Petrov, but at the same time, if he had a habit of simply dropping everything to hike across the continent, then how could he claim to be back soon!? She was worried about him, dammit!

_"This is my fault..."_

Ellie didn't recognize what she saw in Charles' expression, and it terrified her.

"Charles, hey, I've already called the general, he's on his way to base...Charles, are you listening!?"

He snapped out of whatever he'd gotten trapped in, "Right. Yeah. Let's get to the helipad. We'll take my car."

They didn't talk on the short drive over, nor during the long flight to Newfoundland. They just sat in heavy silence as the resolve in Charles' gaze hardened more and more.

***

When they landed, Charles made no move to leave his seat, just staring at the steering wheel as he gripped it far too tight. The sun had risen by now, and the light made Charles squint as the clouds rolled away and the door opened.

_You knew it the whole time, didn't you?_

What was this feeling? It hurt so much, but somehow, it was easy to ignore. He'd been ignoring it for a long time, almost a year, but this pain was in fact familiar to him. He felt weightless, almost like the end was near, like he could see the seconds on the clock counting down to his inevitable downfall.

"Charles?"

Charles snapped out of his thoughts, though he still had an odd sense of tunnel vision, "Right. Sorry. Let's go."

He felt heavy, now, contrasting against the earlier weightlessness. He passed it off as tiredness, though his brain practically buzzing with grief and regret said otherwise.

"Charles! Ellie!" Galeforce ushered them into his office, "Tell me what happened right now!"

"He's gone." Ellie handed over the note, "We have no idea how long he's been gone, but he's gone."

"Goddammit! Now is not the time!" Galeforce handed it back, picking up the office phone, "Everyone on night watch! I need you to organize a rescue mission! Henry Stickmin has gone missing!"

Ellie glanced at Charles, still swaying like he was holding back tears, "General, why is this not the time!? Is Henry in danger!?"

"You mean they didn't tell you?"

Charles rubbed his arm, mumbling _"It didn't come up."_ pathetically under his breath.

"Well, Henry is being hunted right now by some blokes in the Russian government." Galeforce explained, "And they have a prisoner. I don't know who Henry thinks they are, but he managed to figure it out that day on the phone. It's why he called them back."

"Well, who is the prisoner?"

"We don't know anything about them except that they're eighteen years old."

_Eighteen years old...?_

Her brother was eighteen. Henry had seen Lincoln's missing status. The birthdays had matched up.

Everything fell into place, and Ellie fell backwards into the wall, holding herself up against it until she slid down onto her knees, a hand over her mouth.

"Ellie?" Galeforce knelt in front of her, "Did you figure it out, Soldier? Do you know who the prisoner is?"

Henry hadn't told her. He hadn't told her, and now he was running away. Was he going to go rescue him!? Even at the cost of his own life!?

"General," Ellie gasped out, "It's my brother. My brother is the prisoner in Russia."

His eyebrows flew up so high they were hidden beneath his cap, _"What did you say?"_

"Your brother...?" Charles' lungs were wheezing, "Ellie, I didn't know you had a brother."

"Well, I do. He's eighteen. His name is Lincoln." Ellie scrambled for her phone, "He left something behind the day he ran away. I didn't think it would help us find him, so Henry doesn't know about it, but it looks like this..."

She held the screen up for the other two soldiers. It was a photo of a painting on a five-inch canvas. The predominant color was red on the background, and it was full of eyes staring eerily at the viewer, their scleras sporting veins with black irises and white pupils.

"Red was his least favorite color. He almost never used it in paintings." Ellie explained, "When he was happy, he always used yellow and blue, never red, and he hates eye contact more than anything. He would rather be blind than be forced to make eye contact. I think he lost all hope when I was captured, and that's why even my mom and dad have no idea where he is."

Galeforce was paling by the minute.

Ellie pocketed her phone, "We need to stop Henry!" she forced herself to her feet, "We need to go to Russia! We need to save Lincoln!"

Galeforce was already on the phone, "Price! I need you to call all soldiers to base! Yes, it's an emergency! It has to do with Henry! GO!"

Ellie's gaze darted to Charles. He'd been oddly silent this whole time.

"Charles?"

He robotically turned towards her. She didn't like what she saw in him.

"Why didn't you tell me about the Russian weirdo? And the prisoner?"

_"Why didn't you tell me about your brother."_

His voice was so hushed, she barely heard him.

"Charles-!" she stumbled over her own feet, and he caught her, holding her close enough that she couldn't see his expression, "Charles?"

He could feel her shaking.

"It's okay." he said louder, calmer, "You can cry."

So she did.

***


	7. Chapter 7

I headed into the pub the next morning, my scarf pulled up to my ears as I sat at the bar, where the bartender was polishing glasses to put on the glass rack.

"You a drifter?"

I shrugged, "Something like that."

"Well, can I getcha anything?"

"Just a beer is fine."

I wasn't a heavy drinker, but I figured if I could be a little buzzed for my upcoming trip, it might be slightly more bearable. I had spent the night in an old run-down motel, paid for in cash so as not to leave a trail. I still had crusted tear tracks on my face, and I forgot to pack a toothbrush when I left, so I'd feel better as soon as I was able to get a shower.

The bartender passed me a glass of beer, and I took a huge mouthful of the stuff, swallowing with some difficulty. I'd get drunk fast if I didn't have something to eat soon, so I was already preparing to leave, fishing around in my pockets for the cost of the drink and a tip.

That's when I overheard a conversation behind me.

"Yeah, didya hear the news? Apparently Henry Stickmin has gone missing."

I felt the color drain from my face, but I tried to hide my dismay as I cautiously listened in.

"No, mate. 'e didn't just disappear, 'e _ran away."_

"Ran away? Why on earth would he do that?"

"I dunno. Apparently 'e left a note and everything. 'is boyfriend and girlfriend are frantically searching for 'im."

"Wait, why would he just leave? He isn't planning on returning to crime?"

"I doubt it, mate. If 'e was planning that, 'e surely woulda left sooner."

I quickly downed the rest of my glass, pulling my beanie further over my eyes as I left the cash on the bar and headed over to their table.

"Well, he had everything, though. A good job, two partners, and even the protection of the US military. Why would he just give all of that up?"

I stopped, adjusting my scarf so my voice could carry, "Maybe it's because of something nobody else saw."

Their whole table turned their gaze to me. Three men and two women, from the looks of it. They were all wearing security guard uniforms, probably from the correctional facility nearby.

"Ey? Whaddya mean, mate?" the one who hadn't spoken yet said to me, "You ain't sayin' that 'e 'ad some sorta mental problem?"

"Maybe he did. Maybe it was something else." I glowered at them, "You never know how someone might be suffering behind the scenes. Although, if there's one thing I've learned on the road, it's that people tend to go where their heart is. It wouldn't surprise me if he went home tomorrow."

And then I left, leaving them pretty bewildered and with no further context. I caught the tail end of their conversation before the glass door separated us.

"Who _was_ that guy?"

"I don't know, but I've got a hunch he knows how it feels to have rumors spread about him. I guess until Stickmin is found, we'll never know why he left."

At least that much was true. In any case, I had a bus stop to get to, so I bundled up tight against the early morning chill as I hurried to get there before rush hour started.

I wondered how they'd react if they knew the truth.

***

I bought an mp3 player and a cheap pair of earbuds at a convenience store before getting on the next bus. I was almost at my destination, and the radio on these buses was driving me crazy, so after downloading some files onto it from a throwaway phone I was using to track the date and time, I put the earbuds in and prepared for another long bus ride.

That was when a screeching sound cut through my music, and I tore my earbuds out just as I recognized what was going on.

A military service broadcast.

_"Attention; A person of interest has disappeared in the night. Please be on the lookout for a man of average build, six feet tall, no hair and blue eyes. Usually dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt with dark blue jeans and-!"_

_"Henry! If you don't come home right this instant, I will personally hunt you down and beat you up for making Charles cry!"_

_"Ellie, give me the microphone!"_

_"You can't just take things from the general, Ells."_

_"Don't tell me what to do! I'm pissed off! I'll plaster his face on every window in the state if I have to! Get your hands off me!"_

There was a brief pause.

_"Usually dressed in a blue hooded sweatshirt with dark blue jeans and blue rubber-toed sneakers. Answers to the name Henry Stickmin. Please call the non-emergency number if you have any information on his whereabouts."_

Shit. Fuck. Already!? I figured I'd have at least another two hours before they went out looking for me, but suddenly, I was painfully aware that every cop was now an enemy. They knew my face and my voice, and if they managed to restrain me and haul me home, then my entire plan was ruined.

I wasn't quite at the right bus stop yet, and if I jumped off this bus at the next upcoming stop, I would make myself look suspicious. Luckily, I had changed out of my hoodie and blue jeans fairly recently, instead wearing a black sweater that I bought at a thrift store about a mile back, and an old pair of basketball shorts that I hadn't worn since high school. I still wore the same blue sneakers, but I figured the rest of my outfit was different enough that it wouldn't matter much. I could only hope.

The chattering on the bus increased once the music came back on. I resisted the urge to pull my beanie down again. I couldn't make myself a target now. I needed to act like I didn't care much. Like I was a passive observer to a tragedy rather than right smack dab in the middle of it.

Finally, after what felt like hours, I got off at my stop and put my earbuds in with no music, keeping my gaze on the ground or on my phone and keeping my hands in my pockets as much as possible to hide their shaking.

Finally, I made it to my destination; White&Co Law Offices. I hurried into the building, taking the stairs all the way up to the main office.

I knocked on the door, and I heard papers shuffling as someone got up to answer. I'd only met him in passing one time, but I'd still recognize that spiky black haircut anywhere. Felix White, Defense Attorney. He wore a nice suit, as white as his namesake, with a black tie. He was almost entirely monochrome. I don't know why that stood out to me, but it did. He even had dark olive eyes, almost as black as his hair and tie.

"Erm..." he stuck a black pen in his pocket, "Can I help you?"

I pushed into the office, closing the door behind me as I took off the beanie and lowered the scarf, "I sure hope so."

He jumped backwards, almost tripping over his desk chair, "H-Henry Stickmin!? What are _you_ doing here!? You, you haven't...!?"

"I know, you probably heard that broadcast just now, but please. Hear me out." I put the beanie back on, covering my ears with it, "You see, I'm a freelance security tester. People pay me to break into their businesses and such to make sure they're ready for a real heist. Or...they're _supposed_ to pay me for it. Four of my previous clients have defaulted on their contracts, so I haven't received payment for those jobs. Yes, I have the contracts and the legal documentation and everything. You can ask the police department in the next city. I knew this would happen at some point, I just didn't expect it to happen so often. Therefore, I need your help to claim the money I'm owed."

White glanced between me and the small TV in the room, which was running an old children's program. I realized it must have been where he saw the broadcast. It may have even shown my face.

"I'm sorry, Mister Stickmin..." White shrugged helplessly, "But if you've done something illegal, I have to turn you in..."

Of course. Everyone knew that the reason Felix White was such a relentless defense attorney was because he couldn't stand to see innocent people being wrongly prosecuted. If he had such a strong sense of justice, then I was in big trouble.

"I know. I'm not asking you to break the law." I leaned back against the door, listening for footsteps outside, "I have broken people's trust. I have hurt people I care about by running, but I have not broken any laws. I'm not asking for this money for myself. I want all of it to go to my housemates; Charles Calvin and Ellie Rose. If you call the cops on me, I will be out of the building before they get here, but if you go about processing my request, then greedy business owners will get their comeuppance for trying to get free service. I even have the proof right here."

The last thing I'd needed to get before coming here. I reached into my backpack for the extracted documents. The first was the contract I'd drawn up for my services, with the bigwig's scrawling signature at the bottom. The second was the paper I'd signed that the young Officer Boulevard had with him to confirm my location at the time, and the third was the record of my bounced invoices, as well as a copy of my bank statement, which was missing income for the past five weeks. I had a version of these for every defaulted contract.

White was quiet as he looked over each document, his frown deepening with every sweep of his eyes until there was a noticeable crease between his eyebrows. After a few tense minutes, he looked up at me, scrutinizing me in a way I knew only he could. I tried not to squirm, but he was a seasoned lawyer, and I had no idea what was going on in his head.

Finally, without breaking eye contact with me, he backed into his office until he found the office phone, dialing a quick number and bringing it to his ear.

I bit my lip, preparing for whatever he was about to do.

"Yeah, Heather?" White said into the receiver, "I need you in my office. I have to process a lawsuit."

I couldn't help but smile giddily as the person on the other end chattered for a bit until White hung up.

"Okay. I have all the proof I need to make a claim, but you might not even need to go this far. As soon as you threaten them with the big papers, that will probably be all you need, but you should stay if it isn't enough."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mister White." I tightened my scarf over my chin, "I'm leaving as soon as possible."

"What?" White set the documents on the desk, "Do you plan on filing a lawsuit as a missing person?"

"No. I'm not technically missing right now, am I? This building has security cameras, just use that to prove I was here, and if you need more information, you can contact the chief of police a city over, but frankly, I think you have more than enough proof already. If you need me to sign anything else to make sure this money gets to my housemates, then please. Get that for me."

The office door opened again, and I pulled my beanie further down my forehead.

"I got the paperwork you need, Felix." a woman with long black hair placed a stack of documents on the desk beside my own.

"Ah. Thank you, Heather." Felix turned the document on the top towards me, handing me a pen that had been hidden behind his ear, "If you really need to get on the road as soon as possible, then I would recommend you go over these immediately."

I complied, reading just barely slow enough to actually process what I was reading. It took several minutes of just reading and writing, and I was so tired that the words blurred together a few times, but eventually, I'd gotten through the whole stack and White was ready to file them into an active case.

"Okay. I think we're good." White straightened the stack of papers, "Are you sure you want to simply disappear? What if I hit a roadblock?"

"Like I said, I've thought of that. I'm confident you have everything you need." I watched Heather leave the room, "Besides. I won't be gone forever. Hopefully, I'll be back within the week, but I'm _sure_ you won't need me anymore. Trust me on that."

White's expression became oddly unreadable. I couldn't explain exactly what I saw in it, but eventually, he took a step closer, his hand out towards me like a gesture of comradery.

"Henry...are you okay?"

My heart lurched. He was onto me.

I opened my mouth, then I closed it.

"Just..." I took a steadying breath, "Just do this for me. If the whole thing fails, I'll pay you for your time. I promise."

White was about to say something else, but suddenly, thundering footsteps came down the hallway, and I froze before stiffly forcing myself to run to the window.

"Henry!" Galeforce burst into the office, followed by Charles and Ellie, "Stop! Don't move!"

***


	8. Chapter 8

I pressed my back to the window, feeling around behind me for the latch that would unlock it.

"Henry!" Ellie was sobbing, her eyes puffy and red-rimmed, "What the hell is wrong with you!? We've been worried sick!"

Charles approached me slowly, his arms opened up to me, "Henry, please. Just come home. We don't want to see you get hurt."

It would be so easy. All I had to do was accept Charles' embrace, and I could go home with them. Maybe I would be happier that way. Maybe I could relax and pretend this never happened.

But then I remembered how suffocated I felt. The endless insomnia. The spiraling self-destructive thoughts. The grief. The _pain._

I fumbled with the latch on the window, yanking it open and gazing out onto the street below. It was filled with cop cars and terrified civilians, probably convinced I was going to jump.

"Henry." Galeforce lifted his hands in surrender, "Please. We won't hurt you. Just come quietly, and we can forget this ever happened."

I couldn't get enough oxygen. If I wasn't careful, I was sure I would lose consciousness. Ellie took another step closer, and I jumped onto the windowsill.

"Henry. Please." she begged, _"Please."_

I slowly shook my head, planning an escape route in my head and flitting through the many options I had.

I braced myself against the brick wall outside, _"I'm sorry."_

I leapt onto the next window, grabbing and climbing up the fire escape until I'd made it to the roof. I only had a few seconds to figure out what to do, so I ran to the next building over and jumped onto the neighboring roof, catching the edge with both hands and narrowly avoiding breaking my nose on the brick as I hoisted myself up.

"STOP HIM! _STOP HIM!"_

I ran to the next building, jumping across and sliding down the rain collector like a fire pole. I disappeared into the alley where no cars could reach, and I jumped behind a dumpster as my heart lodged itself in my throat. I had two options at this point; Run or hide. Hiding would not work. There's a reason they say you can run but you can't hide. I would be quickly surrounded if I stayed in one place, but at the same time, there was nowhere to run.

Still, I assessed what few options I had. Up? No, there was nothing to climb, and even if I could, I'd just be out in the open again, where I could be caught, potentially even tranquilized. Out? No, that would just take me to the street, where twelve cops were currently searching for me.

The only option was for me to go down.

So, mumbling another apology, I kicked in a door to the basement of the nearby building, and I ran through it until I found a window to climb out of. I didn't look behind me. As soon as I realized the coast was clear, I sprinted, running on nothing but pure adrenaline.

_"Freeze!"_

In a split-second of frantic decision-making, I performed a super jump, flying twenty feet into the air over the head of the cop. I landed in a crouch on the opposite street. I was frozen in shock for a second, but forced myself to keep running.

Finally, I got an actual idea. I threw my backpack down and performed an outfit swap. Suddenly, I was dressed in a grey windbreaker and tan cargo shorts, along with black combat boots and a white infinity scarf, which I bundled up around my neck as I picked up the backpack again and continued running.

The next street was packed with people, so seeing the opportunity, I disappeared into the crowd, slowing to a leisurely stroll as I put my earbuds back in and searched for a taxi. I was a little nervous about my head being uncovered, but I figured that they were still looking for someone in a beanie, and anyway, it's not like young bald men were rare.

I managed to flag down a taxi, climbing into the back seat and asking them to take me to the bus stop downtown. I kept my head down, way too aware of the cops outside trying to get through, asking around in less crowded areas with a picture of my face. Luckily, they were far enough away that the taxi driver didn't see, and once I was at the bus stop downtown, I only had to wait a few minutes to catch the next bus and leave the city far behind.

***

The police expanded their search over both cities, and even further beyond, but after Henry disappeared into the crowd, he had seemingly vanished into thin air. He was nowhere to be found.

Galeforce had closed his eyes to try and ease his growing headache by the time a young officer approached him, "Sir? We can't find him. He's probably long gone by now."

The poor kid was quaking in his boots, so Galeforce waved him off, "You're dismissed. I'll gather the rest of my men, and we'll continue the search ourselves."

He exhaled, "Thank you, sir. I'll tell the chief."

The cops dispersed, and Ellie dragged Charles back to his car as the military separated from the local law enforcement and headed back to base.

"Charles." Ellie took his arm, "I'll drive."

The briefest look of surprise crossed his otherwise apathetic features, "Huh? Why?"

Ellie gently took the key from his hand without breaking eye contact, "Just...let me do it."

He didn't really feel like driving, and his eyes were unfocusing against his will, so he handed the key over and climbed into the front passenger seat without argument. As Ellie drove, she mulled over what to do once they made it back to the helicopter, and she chewed on her lip as she considered asking another pilot to fly them back. She didn't know why she had such a bad feeling swirling in her gut, but she didn't feel like Charles should be driving anything right now.

Once they arrived at the helipad, Ellie had to open his door to snap him out of whatever reverie he was in, and they made their way up the stairs of the military-owned building.

"Ellie? Charlie?"

They stopped upon hearing Galeforce's voice. Nobody seemed to be in any real rush to get back. There was no sound of helicopter engines, in fact, all the vehicles on the roof were turned off. Everyone was still. Tense.

Ellie swallowed, "Y-yes, General?"

Galeforce crossed his arms and leaned up against the side of Charles' helicopter, "You don't think Henry would return to crime, do you?"

Ellie took Charles' hand to give it a squeeze, "N-no. He wouldn't. We know him better than that, right Charles?"

Charles quickly nodded, but didn't speak.

Galeforce took a long, slow breath as he took his hat off and wiped the sweat from his brow. He seemed so much older than he was in that moment, like the stress was physically aging him.

"Well, I just don't know what to think." he replaced the cap, but it was somewhat lopsided over his eyebrows, "Why would he do this? Was it premeditated? Why wouldn't he just talk to us?"

Ellie looked back at Charles when his grip on her hand tightened. If he looked apathetic before, he was downright depressed now.

Her voice squeaked, _"Charles...?"_

Charles' tears landed on the concrete. He didn't move otherwise. He wasn't even shaking anymore, he was just a hollow husk of a man-turned-cyborg as he blinked away each tear that fell.

He mumbled something way too quiet to hear.

"Hm?" Ellie brushed a tear away with her thumb, "Can you say that louder? I didn't hear you."

Charles looked up, and she flinched back at the sheer despair that radiated off of him in waves.

 _"It's my fault."_ he said louder, _"Henry has always done this. Every time he faces trauma, he runs away. He did it when he thought I'd died, when he lost his mom, and now when I've failed to help him. I'm a failure. I don't know what's wrong with me."_

"What!?" Ellie was growing angry, but she scolded herself as she begged her temper to stay in check for once, "Charles, what are you talking about!? How is this _your_ fault!?"

 _"Because I wasn't good enough."_ Charles grabbed the front of his jacket, scratching his chest like he wanted to dig something out of it, _"Because I'm dead. I've been dead this whole time. I don't belong here."_

He touched his belt, feeling for the pistol he always carried.

He flicked the safety off, _"I can't take this pain anymore."_

And then he pressed the barrel of the gun to his own temple.

Immediately, every soldier was on high alert, running around to grab things or shouting at Charles or each other. Galeforce held his arms out while Ellie took a step back in sheer shock, her head heavy as her legs grew weak and numb.

"Charlie, put down the gun." Galeforce commanded, "Give it to me. Don't do this."

 _"It hurts."_ Charles' finger hovered over the trigger, _"My heart. My head. It hurts so much."_

Ellie wracked her brain for anything she could do to stop him without making everything worse, but her head was blank. Nothing but static. If she tried to think, her heart would pang like she'd been punched in the chest.

"It won't hurt forever, Charlie." Galeforce was calm considering the circumstances, opening his arms out towards him, "Please. Think about what will happen if you go through with this. We would be crushed. You aren't dead. That's a blessing and a miracle. Look at me, Charlie. You're alive."

Charles' hand lowered just slightly, which was enough that Ellie found her courage again.

 _"If you kill yourself,"_ she huffed out breathlessly, _"You'll be leaving me. You'll never see Henry again."_

"You'll be letting us down." Galeforce added, "All of your friends in the force. Your mother and father. Me. Is this really worth it to you?"

Charles' hand holding the gun began to shake as the tears fell faster, "Why do you think I'm hesitating!? I just want the pain to stop! It hurts so much, I can't even describe it!"

Ellie ever so slowly reached out until her fingertips brushed his wrist. His arm grew heavier. She carefully aimed the gun so it was pointing straight at the ground, then she took it from him, slowly handing it over to Galeforce, who flipped on the safety and unloaded all the bullets before placing it on the ground, facing away from everyone.

Once they were in the clear, Ellie patted him down for his other weapons until he'd been stripped of them, which consisted of one more gun and a sheathed military knife. Ellie then took all weapons off herself and placed them a reasonable distance away.

She took his face and made him look at her, "Charles, how long have you felt like this?"

He closed his eyes, "Off and on since my death. You know, the Toppat space station. It didn't used to be nearly this bad, though."

"I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner."

"It's okay. I'm sorry I scared you, but I just want to feel normal again and all of this is just..."

"I know, I know." Ellie wrapped her arms around his torso, her head on his chest as she gave him a good squeeze, "It's going to be okay, Charles. I've got you. It's okay."

He hugged her back, resting his cheek on her head. He continued to cry, his tears soaking into her hair. In the background, he could hear Galeforce on the phone, quietly talking to whoever was on the other end. He hung up, then he called someone else. Charles felt raindrops on his head, so he switched his headphones off so they wouldn't get ruined.

"Hey." Ellie looked up at him, "Let's go inside. We can get Liam to fly us to base."

Charles nodded, and Ellie took his hand to lead him into the vehicle, his other hand in his jacket pocket.

***


	9. Chapter 9

Charles lay on his back in the medical wing, Ellie sitting beside him as the clock ticked away. They'd been waiting here, on the general's orders, for about an hour, though what they were waiting for was unclear.

Ellie let out the breath she'd been holding, "He's probably calling a crisis worker."

"God, please no." Charles rubbed his sore eyes, "I hate crisis workers."

"You've talked to them before?"

"Yeah. My mom wildly misinterpreted what I was going through as a kid and staged an 'intervention' of sorts." he chuckled, "Nah. Turns out, I just had a critical case of the big gay!"

Ellie rolled her eyes, "I bet those crisis workers were pretty confused."

"Oh, totally. See, I used to wear my hair in a ponytail tucked under a baseball cap at school because I was out to my friends, but I wasn't ready to come out to my parents yet. Imagine my surprise when my mom confronted me with one of my binders and baseball caps in a living room full of crisis workers!"

"Wow. She really jumped to conclusions there."

"No kidding. So, once I stopped laughing my ass off during this really weird and awkward conversation, I explained that I'm not depressed, I'm just a boy. She totally understood, and I got to show off my sweet new haircut at school the next day. I've lost pretty much all of it since then, but you know. It was worth it."

Ellie gave his bald head a pat, "What color was your hair?"

Charles winked at her, "Brown. Same as my mom."

Charles' mom specifically had honey-brown hair, like the color of dark cedar wood. Ellie had to admit to herself that the thought of Charles with warm brown hair absolutely melted her heart.

Charles' smile fell as he tugged on the front of her sweatshirt, and she lay on his chest, her head over his heart. The atmosphere was heavy again. Charles took a breath like he wanted to speak, but then he let it go again, holding Ellie closer as the seconds continued to tick by.

"You know, Charles..." Ellie dragged her finger up and down the zipper of his jacket, "I really like the way your heart sounds."

"What? No, you're just saying that."

"I'm not." Ellie pressed her cheek into the fabric of Charles' undershirt, "It's so strong and steady. I know you're self-conscious about your heart, but it's nice to me."

Charles felt heat rising to his face, "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course I do. Why would I lie about that? I love you, Charles. I love everything about you."

Charles' heart swelled for her as he ran his fingers through her hair, "I love you too, Ellie."

In the next second though, he stiffly lay back against the pillow, his eyes boring holes into the ceiling.

"Holy shit."

Ellie sat up, "What?"

He gingerly touched his own face, "I almost _killed_ myself!"

He let out a sob before rolling over and hugging his knees to his chest, the tears falling rapidly. It was like a dam had broken, and he couldn't stop it.

Ellie draped herself over his back, "It's okay, Charles. I love you. It's all gonna be okay."

 _"Why did he leave, Ellie?"_ Charles choked out between sobs, _"I feel so betrayed! Why does he keep running away!?"_

"I don't know, but it's not your fault." Ellie's arms found their way around his waist and she squeezed him, "You know that, right? He didn't leave because of you."

_"Then why did he leave?"_

Ellie let her cheek rest on his back. She let him cry for a few minutes before his cries died down to sniffles and she squeezed him again.

"Charles...do you remember that day when Henry's aunt came over?"

He wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket, "Yeah...?"

Ellie lowered her voice, "He never told you why he was crying that day. It turns out, Henry is a rape baby."

Charles sat bolt-upright, tearing out of Ellie's grasp, "What?"

She sat up beside him, gripping his shoulders as if to ground him, "Henry was born because his dad raped his mom. His aunt knew because she's his mom's sister, and it's why Henry was hated by a bunch of his family members."

"Oh my god..." Charles ran a hand down his sweaty face, "Jesus Christ...imagine getting news like that at a time like this...!"

"I'm sure it was one of the factors that made him run away."

"God, if I found out something like that about myself, I'd probably run too." Charles shook his head, "We need to find him! Shit, we need to find him as soon as possible!"

"Yeah! We do! Why do you think I begged the general to start the search for him!?"

The door to the medical wing suddenly opened, revealing the blonde-haired Doctor Vinschpinsilstien; The Russian scientist who had given Charles his cybernetics, as well as the general, both hands behind his back as he stood at ease.

Doctor Vinschpinsilstien spoke in her thick Russian accent, "I am not interrupting, am I?"

"No, not at all." Ellie slid to the floor, "I wasn't expecting to see _you_ here, Doctor."

"Well, the general here had suspicions that Charles' episode was caused by his augmentations, however only I can know for certain. May I?"

Charles lifted his left sleeve to allow her to plug something into his upper arm. Her device ran for a bit until it beeped.

 _"О, Боже!"_ she touched Charles' metallic arm, "I thought this would have healed by now! Charles, you sustained brain damage because of explosion that broke pathways in your brain, but it was minor enough that I thought it would heal by itself. It has not. In fact, it is much worse now. I must perform emergency surgery immediately."

Charles trembled, "Wait, I need to let you c-cut me open...?"

"Under anesthesia, of course. General, you have surgery wing, _да?"_

"We do, but I can't let you perform surgery on a soldier without proper authorization."

"I know. I brought medical degree with me."

He cocked his head, "From Russia?"

She fiddled with her device a bit more before unplugging it, "Funny story; I actually got it in America. I learned cybernetics in Russia, however."

The group moved to the on-site operating room, where Charles lay back on the table, trembling with his hand in Ellie's.

"You two should keep your distance." Vinschpinsilstien pulled a surgical mask over her face as well as her rose-tinted glasses before washing her hands and donning the classic sterilized rubber gloves.

Charles glanced at Ellie in fear.

"It's okay, Charles." she squeezed his hand one more time before stepping back, "She's saved you before, remember? You'll be okay."

"I know. I've had like four surgeries in my life by now." Charles saw the needle in his peripheral vision, "AHH! Jesus, it never gets easier!"

"C'mon, Charles. You're a strong man." Galeforce offered, "In through your nose, out through your mouth. Slow and steady."

Vinschpinsilstien placed the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, "Are you ready? I want you to count down from ten in your head, okay?"

Count down from ten? Well, he needed to focus on _something_ besides the fear, so he complied.

_Ten...nine..._

_E i g h t . . ._

His eyes slid closed, suddenly far too heavy to stay open.

***

I sneezed into my sleeve as I rummaged around in my backpack, the driver of the stolen complex tank steering us closer and closer towards the graveyard of an old Russian prison.

He turned towards me, his accent just ambiguous enough to keep me guessing, "Hey, uh, are you sure you want me to take you in?"

I zipped up the backpack, shouldering it as I tightened the scarf around my neck and checked the pockets on the massive parka and snow pants I was wearing.

I nodded, pointing towards the entrance, and he reluctantly steered towards it.

"You do know where we are, right?" the driver stopped again, hidden behind some rocks, "This is The Wall. Rumor has it that the old leader was killed by someone to avenge his torture victims! This is a place with blood written into its foundation! Once you go in, you may never make it back out!"

"I know. I'm aware." I gazed between the narrow cliffs that hid us from the docks, the ocean twinkling in the light of the full moon, "I'm not going in because I want to be here. Trust me, I don't. It's their prisoner I'm here for."

"Right, but what if they are already dead?"

"I can assure you, they aren't." I climbed out of the tank, landing in the snow and giving an involuntary shiver, "But they won't be for much longer unless I can save them."

I counted out seven hundred dollars from my stack and held it out towards him, but he shook his head, "Keep it. You can pay me if you make it out alive."

I shoved the money into his hands, "You said half up front!"

"Because I didn't think you actually wanted a ride here!"

"Look, if I die in there, this money will just go straight to whoever's running this place now. Or it'll rot on my corpse. Just take the money. You get double this amount if you're still here when I get out."

He snatched the stack from me, sitting back in the tank with a disgruntled look on his face.

I mumbled my thanks as I hurried off towards the entrance. My appearance was close enough to that of a complex guard that I was hoping I'd just be politely ignored, at least at first. My backup plan was a flash, which I prepared for ahead of time. 

My thought process went like this; There were either a lot of soldiers in there, or very few. If there were very few, then the soldiers that were here would immediately recognize that I'm not one of them, but if that happened, I could either lie or flash my way out, and moving through a mostly empty building would be relatively easy. If there were a lot, I could just walk through for the most part since nobody knows each other that well, and who's to say I hadn't been there since day one? Although, this carried a higher risk in case I was caught, but if that happened, I could still potentially lie or flash my way out.

Still, I had a feeling that this hulking dark building that was run-down and hollow enough to give chernobyl a run for its money probably didn't have very many soldiers inside it. In fact, I'd been suspecting that this operation that was out for my blood wasn't actually affiliated with the Russian government at all. They could be complex defectors, or even former Toppat goons, though having them as enemies here wasn't much more appealing, to be honest.

As I pushed through the broken iron door at the entrance, I realized I was right. It was not only devoid of soldiers, it was devoid of any activity whatsoever to the point where I actually considered that maybe I was at the wrong place.

There was one reason I didn't turn around immediately, though. On the dilapidated, frozen desk, there was a single stack of freshly-printed papers. There was only one thing written on any of them, and it was on the inmate record.

_Inmate Admittance:_   
_Lincoln Rose_

That's it. That's all that was written on a blank inmate list of possible admittances and discharges, in bold black ink. There wasn't even a time or date of admission, just the acknowledgement of admission and the name.

What really made my blood curdle in my veins was the realization that these weren't written in Russian. Of course, when I was admitted to The Wall, back when it was still running, the records were written in English, and almost all of the staff spoke English despite most of them being Russian. This made sense at the time, because they wanted to be able to communicate with as many people as possible, and indeed, most of the inmates, international or not, could speak English, but now, the whole building was shut down. Supposedly, this was their only prisoner, meant to get at me specifically, and if it was meant only for Russians like you'd expect in an operation run by its government, surely they'd write private records in Russian too, as there was no need to communicate with English speakers within the building, aside from that one prisoner of course, who wouldn't need to read inmate records.

This was all too perfect. That paper could have easily been planted there specifically for me to read. I suddenly had the feeling that there were a lot of eyes on me, but I didn't dare jump into panic mode right away. If I gave myself away now, there would be no second chances, and all of this hard work would have gone to waste.

Instead, I slammed my throat shut to take a massive swallow, trying to prevent any sounds of distress that might force itself out of me. I shakily inhaled, then I marched on. This young man needed me. I couldn't afford to choke now.

Still, the building was way too empty. I walked to where I knew the offices were. No soldiers. I rifled through the records to find a map and Lincoln's room number. No soldiers. I climbed the stairs to the right floor. Still no soldiers. I was so _so_ creeped out. If I thought empty corporate buildings were bad at night, then The Wall, abandoned, dilapidated, and in near total darkness was _desolate._

I made it to Lincoln's cell, but there was nobody inside. That shattered the illusion that the soldiers already knew I was here from the start, at least for a moment. Why wouldn't he be in his cell? Where else would he be?

I tracked the wet footprints on the floor, probably from melting snow, until I came upon an interrogation room. Peering through the glass, I saw...

Well, you can probably guess who I saw.

He was definitely older than in the photo Ellie had shown me, with longer hair that almost grew past his nose. He sat hunched over, his hands twisting in his lap and his gaze firmly on the steel table he sat at. He wore black jeans and black sneakers, as well as a black faux leather jacket over a black band t-shirt, all splattered with dried red paint. At least, it _looked_ like paint. I _hoped_ it was paint. I didn't want to believe the kid might be hurt.

I approached the door of the interrogation room slowly, not wanting to startle him, but he didn't move. I wasn't even sure if he could see me. I reached for the doorknob.

It was locked.

My spine tingled as my fear reignited. Okay, no big deal. This was an ordinary lock. The military base I was used to used digital locks, probably in part because I was such a notorious lock-picker and they wanted to protect against thieves like me, but these Russians don't know that, right?

I took a lockpick out of my pocket and looked around before inserting it and messing with the tumblers. From the sounds of it, there were about three. Once the clicks lined up, I gave the knob a yank, and the door opened.

Lincoln gasped, his gaze under the heavy bangs flicking up to me for a second before returning to his lap. His hands stopped wringing, but they didn't stop shaking.

"It's okay." I said quietly, closing the door behind me to hopefully act as a barrier between us and the barren hallway, "I'm not your enemy."

He didn't respond as I knelt down beside him, and I noticed how he kept trying to look away from me.

"I'm here to rescue you." I explained, my voice dropping even more in case there were cameras or microphones, "I know your sister."

Lincoln took my hand without looking at me.

"Yeah, I know Ellie." I took my phone out and opened the notepad app, "Here, she said you could type like a beast. Can you communicate through this?"

Lincoln quickly took the phone from me, his thumbs literally blurring as he furiously typed on the on-screen keyboard. He handed it back to me, and I took the phone back to read what was written on the screen;

"Who are you? How do you know me or my sister? What are you doing here, and why should I trust you?"

I deleted what he'd written, checking the edit history for the record of what he'd said, "My name is Henry Stickmin. I met Ellie when she escaped from here. From The Wall. I was trapped here too, once. I'm here to rescue you, like I said before." Lincoln ripped the phone from my grasp, which didn't help my frayed nerves, "You know, kid, if you want something, you can just hold your hand out, I get it."

He stopped typing for half a second, and I knew I'd been heard.

"I don't believe you. You're dressed like them. I don't know you. Tell me something only Ellie would know."

I deleted it again as I thought, once again looking over the edit history. I didn't use this app much, huh? Before Lincoln, there were only two notes, both just misspellings of the word "egg".

I handed the phone back before I answered, "On the day I accidentally shot her, Ellie told me she was a miscarriage baby."

Lincoln stiffened, his hands trembling almost to the point of dropping my phone.

"She had...uh, what was it? A weak heart, a brain bleed, underdeveloped lungs... _something about legs...?"_

Lincoln resumed typing, and I trailed off, figuring he got the point.

"I still don't know you. I don't know who you are, Henry, and frankly, I'm fucking terrified right now. I just want to go home."

I snorted at his response. I guess the kid was eighteen, I wasn't expecting him not to swear.

"Sorry, I don't mean to laugh." I gave the phone back, "Here, my phone is in airplane mode anyway, so you can keep this if you need to talk to me. I'm getting us outta here, though, I'm not looking forward to Ellie punching my lights out for coming here alone."

The tiniest of smiles graced Lincoln's face.

_Aw, yis! My girlfriend's brother likes me!_

In one last burst of inspiration, I took the back of his hand and brought it to my forehead. That was when he finally looked at me. Not right at my face, but close enough that I could see those vibrant red eyes that I loved so much in Ellie.

He typed up a new message, "Did she tell you?"

I smiled, "Yeah. She did."

"You listened."

"Of course."

"Thank you."

"It's no problem, dude."

He launched himself at me, and I could hear him laughing softly as he hugged me tight.

"Hey, kiddo." I laughed along with him, "You're freezing cold. How about you take my coat?"

He fervently shook his head, holding the phone up, "I can't make you look suspicious! They're looking for you!"

"But I can't let you freeze."

"No! I won't let you!"

He kept pushing the coat back over me whenever I tried to remove it. Well, this kid was a man of few words, but he was just as much of a spitfire as another redhead I knew, I'll give him _that_ much.

"Okay, fine. I keep the coat."

He crossed his arms triumphantly.

"We do need to get outta here, though." I stepped back, "Can you stand?"

He was a little wobbly, but he could hold himself up fine, so I just offered my arm for balance as he regained his bearings.

"Hey, Henry?"

Yeesh, this kid was a typing legend, "Yes?"

He held the phone tight before giving his next response, "Ellie told me something else, after she realized how I communicate. Hold my hand. One squeeze means, 'Listen to me', two squeezes means, 'I'm listening to you', and three squeezes means, 'I love you.' Can you remember that for me?"

It took some time for him to type, and for me to read, but once I had, I shot him a smile and a thumbs up, "Sure. No problem."

So, I headed back towards the door, twisting the doorknob and heading out into the dark hallway with Lincoln still clinging fearfully to my arm.

 _At ease, kid._ I thought, _We're not out of the woods yet._

***


	10. Chapter 10

Charles' eyelids were so heavy, but he managed to pry them open as the anaesthesia faded. The first thing he noticed was how...normal he felt. No, normal wasn't quite the right word. His normal had been in fear and pain. A sense of disconnection from himself. By contrast, he now felt groggy and dizzy, but it was distinctly underlined by a sense of calm. Compared to the emotional pain he'd been in before, feeling "normal" again was like being on cloud nine.

Charles' eyes filled with tears. Maybe the aftereffects of the anaesthetic were still messing with him, but he began to giggle uncontrollably. He hugged himself, smiling so wide it hurt his face. He didn't know what Vinschpinsilstien had done, but he finally felt like himself again. He felt real. He felt alive.

The emotions were overwhelming him to the point of tears...until the memories came back and his smile slowly fell.

_I almost killed myself._

"Ellie!" he tried to sit up, but someone pushed him down again before the dizziness set in and his breath was stolen.

"Not now." Vinschpinsilstien squeezed his shoulder, "The anaesthesia will take time to fade. It is not safe for you to walk right now, unless you want a concussion or reopened stitches."

"Doctor, where's Ellie? I want to see her. I need to apologize."

"I'm afraid you cannot right now." the doctor was carefully wiping her tools down with a rag, "She is out."

Charles looked at the tray of tools beside him. Some of them still had blood on them. _His_ blood. It made him a little nauseous.

"Out?" Charles resisted the urge to touch his head where he could feel some tightness, probably from the stitched-up incision, "Where did she go?"

He noticed through the door that the hallway was dark. Dark and quiet.

"Where do you think?" she put a firm hand on his chest as a silent reminder to stay down, "She left to get Henry, and the boy."

"Huh? B-but..." Charles, predictably, tried to sit up again, but he was still dizzy, and Vinschpinsilstien's hand on him pushed down harder.

Annoyed, she fixed him with a stern glare, "Charles, I will not repeat myself; While you are under my care, you follow my rules. Do you want to hurt yourself?"

"But I can't just sit here!" Charles tried to push her hand away, but his grip was sloppy, "I wanna help! I have to crash my helicopter into whoever dared-!"

_"You will stay right here."_ Vinschpinsilstien's glasses glimmered with a sharp reflected light that made Charles' blood run cold, _"You will not leave my sight until you are better. Do you understand?"_

Charles swallowed, his eyes brimming with more tears, and her gaze turned soft.

"Please." she pushed him down one more time, and he deflated, "I spent ten hours saving your life. Don't make all that hard work go to waste."

Charles squeezed his eyes shut, his thoughts racing as his brain fully shook off the anaesthetic and the painkiller slowly began to wear off.

_Ellie, I really hope you know what you're doing._ he thought sadly, resigned to missing out on this mission, _I wonder where you could be right now, Henry..._

***

I could feel the darkness and emptiness of the hallway like it was a physical object pressing down on me from all sides. I tried to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any discrepancies, but it was a slow go as I approached the stairs, and by the tightness and shakiness of his grip on me, Lincoln was unsettled too.

"Hey, Lincoln." I put my hand over his on my arm, "How long has it been since you've seen anyone here?"

I didn't look at him until the sounds of typing ceased, "I don't know. Based on the clock in that interrogation room, it looked like it's been about six hours, but it's one of those old clocks that slows down when the battery is low, so it's probably closer to four. I couldn't tell you for sure."

"So...it's been awhile."

He turned the phone screen off, huddling into my arm again.

"I'm so sorry."

Lincoln didn't respond, but he did pat my wrist gently. I think he really wasn't in the mood to blame me for his misery, considering I was currently helping him escape, but still. I felt so bad that I couldn't get here sooner.

"How long have you been held prisoner?"

I helped him take each step down the steel staircase, and he was able to walk and type at the same time, "I couldn't tell you for sure, but your phone has a calendar, so give me a second."

I nodded, and he went tapping on my phone until he'd found the calendar, counting the days and months in his head.

"Just don't read my texts to your sister. They're embarrassing."

He snorted, shaking with silent laughter as he went back to the notepad, "Dude, don't distract me."

"Right. Sorry."

He rested his head on my shoulder as he thought, then he turned the phone on again and typed, "I think I've been in and out of places like this since last year."

"Last year?" I replied incredulously, "Wait...that was when Ellie was arrested and taken to The Wall. You weren't arrested at the same time...?"

"No, but I did run away. You have no idea what they did to her, man. I saw it with my own eyes. I think my throat still hurts from screaming. I can't live in a world without her, so when our parents said she was probably dead, I lost my mind. I left a painting behind before I ran away."

I helped Lincoln onto the next staircase down, and he stumbled, almost dropping the phone, "Hey, d'you want me to just carry you?"

I could tell he wanted to refuse, but instead he went back up so we were on the platform before the stairs, and I knelt in front of him, facing away so he could climb onto my back over the backpack. I picked up his legs as he wrapped both arms around my neck, and I swiftly stood with him draped over me.

He showed me the phone, "Thank you."

"It's no problem." Although, I added internally that I was just glad he wasn't tall or heavy, "Hey, how long has it been since you last slept?"

He hummed as he typed, "I don't know. I can usually only sleep under very specific circumstances. This building is just too cold, and they won't give me pajamas, so any sleep I've managed to get is restless at best."

"Are you one of those people who can't sleep outside their own room?"

After some hesitation, he slowly typed out, "Yeah..."

I smiled, though he couldn't see.

It was in the third floor stairwell that my fear came back full-force; The completely-intact door to the next stairwell was closed when I _know_ I hadn't closed it.

I tried the handle. It was locked.

Lincoln tapped my shoulder.

"Right, hang on." I took a step back, looking all around to make sure we were still alone.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." I leaned on the wall as I thought, "Lincoln, have you seen anyone here at all these past few days?"

"Of course I have! If this building was empty for long enough, I probably could have found a way out!"

"Then where are they?" I swayed off-balance, "Goddammit. _Please."_

Lincoln urgently shook me as I stumbled, ripping his legs from my grasp and gently guiding me to my knees on the floor. He put my phone down as he held me up with one arm, tapping his own chest and breathing in and out in an exaggerated way.

"God, kid, I'm so sorry..." I tried to stop the tears from falling. I wanted to be strong for him.

I couldn't.

He picked up the phone, "Henry, I'm not a kid. I'm eighteen. If you start panicking in front of me, then that's not exactly your fault."

"But you've been through so much." I buried my face in my hands, "I want to be there for you, but here I am, crying again because I'm so sick of all of this. _I never should have left them..."_

I knew I was probably confusing him, but he didn't acknowledge it. He was typing for a long time, and when he finally finished, he nudged me until I looked up, the brightness on the phone screen having been turned down some.

"Henry, you've already done more for me than most people I've ever known. People usually assume I'm stupid because I can't talk, and they write me off even more when they learn I'm autistic, but when Ellie talked about me, you listened. You even remembered the little things I do that other people wouldn't recognize. Just seeing another friendly face makes me more happy than I can ever reasonably express, but you did even more than simply rescuing me. If that were the case, you wouldn't have stayed with me and made me feel comfortable in that room before leaving with me. You even gave me your phone so that I could have a voice. Do you know how scary it is to have your voice taken away from you? Please don't be upset that you're breaking down. I would too if I could fully express myself."

I slowly took the phone from him so I could read everything he'd written.

I read it a second time.

Then a third.

"Lincoln..." I handed him the phone again, "So, you have strong emotions, but you don't express them very well?"

He deleted his huge paragraph and said, "Something like that."

So it was true. Here I was, getting lost in my emotions instead of comforting the person who needed comfort so much right now.

Lincoln must have seen something break in my expression, because he quickly typed a new message, "Did you even read what I said?"

"Of course I did. Sorry." my breath hitched as I wiped the tears away, "Look, I'm dealing with a lot right now, and the way I cope with it is by fleeing. Fleeing or stealing. I'm so scared that if I can't pull myself together, we'll both be recaptured, and I will have failed another person. I shouldn't be crying right now. Both of our lives are on the line, and if I don't get it together, I know I'll never see Charles or Ellie again."

_Ow._ Jesus Christ, my heart was constricting so painfully hard. It felt like I'd been stabbed through the chest. Of course, it only made my crying worse.

_Why are you such a failure?_

_You ran out of "love", and look at where that got you._

_You've been letting people down since the day you were born._

Lincoln was quiet as I tried to at least stay silent in my delirium, but it was getting harder and harder. The sobs trapped in my chest only added to the pain. I hadn't thought enough about the consequences of running the way I did, so I wanted to avoid the confrontation, but at the same time, I wanted to see them. I wanted to see Charles and Ellie at least one more time, but it would just be painful. I had hurt them, so they would be upset with me. I couldn't face them. I couldn't face them because I was a coward and all I do is hurt people and if they saw me like this oh god what if they were so upset they wouldn't even want me anymore then I would be even more nothing just hollow thoughts empty head too much too much hurt pain agony _too much-!_

Lincoln lightly slapped me, and the spiraling thoughts ended.

He gripped my head so I was looking up. Though he still didn't directly meet my eye, I could see his angry expression. Great. All of this effort to save someone, and I couldn't even stop myself from unloading all that greif onto him.

Once he was assured that my attention was on him, he went back to the phone, "Henry, be honest with me here...Is Ellie your girlfriend?"

I feared my voice wouldn't work, so instead, I just nodded.

He held the phone still for a second as he thought, "I see. Look, I don't know everything that's happened to you, but it's clear you're carrying a lot of trauma. My guess is that you're afraid that Ellie will be mad at you, or at least that she'll hold you fleeing against you, but I assure you, she's more worried about you than anything else. You aren't doing her any favors by assuming she'll make you feel guilty."

I would have smiled at his response, but my heart felt far too heavy, "You know, Lincoln...you're really mature for your age."

"Thank you. Ellie used to tell me that a lot. I know I'm young, but that doesn't mean I'm clueless. We need to get out of here and get back to the United States. After that, you need to seek help, and you need to accept that Ellie doesn't hate you, nor whoever Charles is."

I nodded, swallowing my grief for the time being, "Look, no offense, but you have no idea who I am."

"Yes I do. I knew who you were the second you told me your name. I follow the news, you know? The museum that held the Tunisian exhibit is in my hometown!"

I rolled my eyes, "Jesus, will that diamond ever stop haunting me?"

He tapped the screen, and I kept reading, "Plus, these guys who are supposed to be in this building talk about you _constantly._ They _don't shut up_ about you, so I know about the Toppat airship, their space station, the government pilot who became a cyborg, and I vaguely know about Ellie's involvement in that whole mess. I never thought you were a bad person, nor did I ever think I'd be meeting you myself, which is really weird now, and I'm still unsure how much I can really trust you, but the point is, you're clearly beating yourself up over this, and it's not helping anyone."

I tried to scroll down, but that was the end of the paragraph, "Okay, first of all, how did you use italics? I didn't even know this app _had_ italics!"

He pointed it out to me. There was a sidebar under a button that I had never thought to press.

"You're right, though. I'm not helping anyone by feeling sorry for myself." I forced myself to my feet, gripping the wall when I lost my balance, "I'm so sorry, Lincoln."

"Don't apologize. You're literally saving my hide right now."

I let him climb onto my back again, and he nuzzled into my shoulder, "Hey, Henry, I know you don't know me well, but I hope my words are still reaching you. You aren't alone. You'll be okay."

It occurred to me that Ellie had probably said that to him so many times in hopeless situations. She and Charles had always repeated it over and over again to me. Maybe they knew. Maybe they'd always known that things would get better.

Maybe it was true now.

I took a deep breath, and miraculously, my chest actually expanded easily, "Thanks, Lincoln. I really appreciate it."

He turned the screen off, his hands resting on my chest as he relaxed against me.

I only hoped that I'd made him feel safe.

***


	11. Chapter 11

I returned to the locked door that would lead us down to the second floor, but instead of attempting to unlock it, I just paused in front of it, options mulling over in my head.

The sound of my phone keyboard snapped me out of it, "Can't you just pick the lock?"

So. He did know me, or at least that much about me, "Yes, but I'm afraid it's what they want me to do. If I open this door and they're right behind it, waiting for me, then it's not going to help us much."

I was beginning to see what exactly they were doing. Maybe at first they hadn't meant to leave Lincoln alone for so long, but now I was almost certain that they were doing this intentionally. Maybe they just wanted to mess with me, I don't know, but if they really were setting up a trap, then I couldn't afford to get us both caught in it.

"Then what are you going to do?"

I swallowed, looking to the side at Lincoln's face. He had long fluffy eyelashes, just like Ellie.

"I don't know." I looked down the hallway, "Hey, can you turn my phone flashlight on for me?"

He did, pointing the beam down the hall where I was looking. This particular hallway had no windows, and so its darkness was even heavier than the others. At least windowed rooms sometimes had moonlight in them.

"Okay, I think I know what to do. You can go ahead and turn that off." the light darkened, and I made my way back up the stairs, "I have some flashes with me. I bet I can get on the outside of the building with them."

I didn't want them to be able to predict what I was going to do, but what if they'd thought of that? What if they predicted I would ignore the locked door and were on higher floors again? What if they expected me to think of that and place guards behind the door after all!? I really didn't want to play a game like that. Maybe I was looking into it too hard, but I couldn't shake the thought from my mind.

I thought about calling Charles. This building had a helipad on it, and after the stunt I pulled in the White&Co building, he might have already predicted that I would come here to rescue the prisoner.

God, I wish I'd done _that_ instead of stealing a truck.

I paused when Lincoln held the phone up again, "Henry, you're shaking. Do you want to stop?"

I inhaled, "No. Sorry. Just thinking too much."

I made it to the cafeteria, which covered the whole floor, so the moonlight spilled in from all sides. Again, I thought about calling Charles. Instead, I gazed out all the windows individually before heading towards the door leading to the fire escape outside. The door was unlocked.

It was rusted shut, though.

"Arg! Seriously?" I yanked on the door, completely forgetting about the flashes, and the screeching made my head vibrate. It wasn't that loud, but compared to the heavy silence, it was earth-shattering.

Lincoln whimpered as he pushed himself off of me and began to tug on his bangs. Over and over again. He fluffed up his hair, combed through it, twisted it between his fingers, all while aggressively rocking back and forth.

"Lincoln?" I picked my phone up from where it had fallen. Thankfully, it wasn't broken, "I'm so sorry. I didn't think the door was rusted shut like that."

He took the phone back to type one-handed, "It's finee, dude. Jusr give mee a minnute."

I wasn't sure if he wanted me to touch him or not, so I just hovered beside him as his breaths came easier, and eventually, his rocking calmed, and he was able to lean on me so he could stand again. He started biting his nails, but then he quickly switched back to messing with his hair.

"I'm sorry." I said again, "Here, you stand right here and I'll get the door open. You might wanna cover your ears."

He did, and I reeled back, yelling as I jammed my heel into the door so it broke clean off its hinges.

"Okay. Let's go."

I picked him up, but as soon as I ran outside with him and began the long trek down the fire escape stairs, I saw that there were three soldiers at the bottom of the stairs, and as soon as one of them saw me, he hit a button on his walkie talkie and the forest filled with soldiers. The guy in the tank I had paid was gone. Guess he figured sticking around wouldn't be worth the extra money.

_"Shit._ Shit!" I sprinted up the stairs instead, "Okay, plan B, we're stealing another truck!"

The soldiers were flooding the building, and more than once I had to switch staircases to avoid them. When both stairwells were occupied, I leapt from the window and flashed up to the next floor. I had a bunch of them, so it didn't matter.

Lincoln's grip on me was weakening, and I leaned forward to stop him from falling, "Hey, kid, stay with me! Don't pass out now!"

I caught him, carrying him bridal-style instead. He fearfully clung to me, but I knew he was losing his grip.

I made it onto the roof before I heard it. A sound that truly was music to my ears.

Helicopter blades.

"HENRY!"

I looked up, "Ellie!"

It was a clear night, so I could see, clear as day, the army-green helicopter.

Soldiers from the fleet met the soldiers on the ground, but they were quickly overwhelmed. The Russian soldiers didn't even have guns, just tranquilizers, pepper spray, and really good aim. Soldiers were dropping like flies.

"HENRY!" Ellie held her arms out from the cargo bay, _"JUMP!!!"_

I nearly lost my balance on the edge of the roof. I tried to flash, but for some reason, it wasn't working anymore. I tried another. Still no luck.

The helicopter was too far away to jump to without dropping Lincoln, and I didn't trust him to be able to jump himself in this state, nor did I trust myself to hold onto him if I tried to jump over with him.

So, in that split-second before the enemy soldiers pushed through the wave of incapacitated allies, I spun Lincoln in a circle and tossed him as hard as I could.

I saw Ellie reach out. Recognition crossed her features.

I saw her catch him. His chest slammed into the floor of the cargo bay, and she grabbed his arms, yanking him up to safety.

I saw her hug him, her sobs carrying all the way through the night.

I saw all of this, but I couldn't react.

A sharp pain hit the back of my head, and when the dizziness set in, I really did lose my balance.

I fell off the roof.

I don't remember hitting the ground.

***

When I came to, I was in a concrete room, tied to a steel chair that was bolted to the floor. There was a table in front of me, also bolted to the floor, and I was surrounded by familiar soldiers in complex uniforms with fuzzy Russian complex hats.

"Well well well..." the eldest of the four held up a familiar military knife. It was _my_ knife, "Look who's awake. You truly are an elusive subject."

I recognized him, "You...you shot me from the tank when I was driving the truck out of The Wall!"

"Danil Dolche is my name." he sat across from me at the table, "But I bet you didn't know that. You slammed into my tank and I flew off the cliff. I'm lucky to be alive right now."

I thrashed in my chair, eyeing the knife I'd been hiding in my hoodie. I realized my pepper spray was gone too. I shivered at the idea of their hands all over me, stripping me of my defenses.

_You got yourself caught._

"Wait, where's Lincoln!?" I demanded, "Did you hurt him!? _Where is he!?"_

"Calm down. He left with the girl." the second soldier slammed the table. I knew his voice. It was the one I'd heard over the phone, "We didn't want him anyway. We only had him to get to you."

I felt some of the tension leave me. Lincoln was gone. Lincoln was safe.

I hadn't failed after all.

"Is that his name?" the third asked. He had short brown hair, and was fairly tall, "All I knew about him is that he doesn't talk and won't hold still."

"Nevermind that, Willie." the fourth looked to be the youngest, maybe even younger than me, "We're not here to talk about the redhead. We're here to talk about Henry."

I didn't speak. Maybe I was resigned to my fate. Maybe I was seeing a possible light at the end of the tunnel. All I knew is that I wasn't panicking. I was calmer than I've ever been.

I was so relaxed, it was scary.

"Perhaps introductions are in order." Dolche gestured to the other four, starting with the person who had called the general, "This is Will Speck. He volunteered to make those vaguely threatening phone calls to the American general." next was the tall one with brown hair, "This is Willie Wagner. He was new when you escaped." then came the fourth, the youngest one, "Ryan Halberd. Son of one of our best, and a promising soldier himself." then there was the final one, way in the back so I could barely see him, "And Andrei Warzow. He's only here because he hates you too, he doesn't really care about our shared motive."

That caught my attention, "Wait, 'shared motive'...?"

"I figured it would be one of the first things you'd ask, considering how relentlessly we hunted you down." Speck picked up the knife, holding it up to my face so I could see my haggard reflection in it. My eyes were bruised, my lips chapped and cracked. I was also caked in dirt, and my eyes were red and raw from crying. I almost looked like a corpse.

"Notice anything about the five of us?" Wagner cocked his head, smiling cooly at me.

I did. All five of them were soldiers that worked at The Wall prior to its shutdown. It put a cold rock in my stomach, like I'd swallowed a block of ice.

"Allow me to explain." Dolche looked at me under my view of the knife, "Aside from Warzow, all of us were close to Dmitri Petrov before he died. Do you know who killed him, Henry?"

I bit my lip, glancing between all five of them with increasing unease.

I tried to relax against the bindings, which were cutting off circulation, "I-I did..."

_"Ah!_ So he _does_ remember..." Speck tapped the dull edge of the blade to my throat once, sliding it along my cheek like a caress, "Tell me, Henry...do you remember _this?"_

He held a piece of paper up to my face;

_You have no one to blame but me. I did this to seek justice, not as a political move, therefore, it is not assassination. I did this on my own, under nobody's orders.  
Signed, Henry Stickmin._

It was my handwriting.

I could feel the blood drain from my face.

I took the responsibility alone. I didn't want to get Charles or Galeforce in trouble with the Russian government. The last thing we needed was to accidentally declare war because of a single person acting alone.

"You killed him." Dolche took the knife from Speck, "Under nobody's orders. You did it alone. Do you still stand by that?"

I let my gaze fall, saying nothing.

"Well..." Warzow shrugged, "He's not _denying_ it."

"We should still hear him say it." Wagner crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me, "I'm curious to hear what he has to say about it; Whether he'll deny it or justify it."

I felt anger building up in my chest. I could deal with anger. Fear was so cold, but anger warmed me up all the way to my fingertips and toes.

"So. You guys are just okay with all the torture?" hot tears spilled over my cheeks, "You watched people scream because their loneliness made them _hallucinate,_ and you just thought it was _fine?"_

Dolche's eyes widened in epiphany, "Oh, I see. You don't think the inmates deserved the torture."

"Of _course_ they didn't! _Nobody_ does!" I thrashed again, desperately wishing I could break the rough rope that bound me to the chair, "Not even _you_ guys, who _kidnapped a disabled child_ just to get to me!"

"Oh, we didn't hurt him, you big baby."

"How would you know!? You never listened to him!"

"Danil, maybe you should just move on." Warzow said.

"No, keep pressing him." Wagner leaned on the table, "This is interesting."

"Shut up. Both of you." Dolche pointed the knife at me, "How could we have listened to him? He never said anything! There was nothing to listen to!"

I spit across the table, and it landed in his eye.

"What?" I calmly eyed his enraged, one-eyed glare, "I didn't say anything. Maybe you didn't quite get the _message._ Should I spit in your other eye too, you _dick?"_

"Fine. Fine. I get the message." he wiped his eye, "Look, this doesn't concern the boy. So, your motive for killing Dmitri was the harsh punishments he gave to some of our prisoners?"

"Yes." I replied confidently, "I don't kill lightly, you know. I didn't even kill the weird jailer-turned-military sniper that made fun of me in prison and chloroformed me after I stole the Tunisian Diamond. I usually don't hold grudges, but what Petrov did is not only inhumane, it goes against everything we've been trying to avoid as people for generations. It's disgusting, it's cruel, and it's unjust, no matter the crime."

I averted my gaze when I remembered my mother. The circumstances of my birth.

I nonchalantly added, "Well, for the most part, anyway."

"Fine. I've heard enough." Dolche jammed the tip of the knife into the table, "It's clear you think your actions are justified, but we will avenge him nonetheless."

"Fine." I scoffed, "I can take whatever torture you dish out. Do your worst."

He grinned maniacally, "With pleasure..."

I braced myself for the knife, but to my surprise, Dolche put it down.

Instead, he gestured to Warzow, who handed him a syringe needle. It puzzled me at first. What were they gonna do with it? What was in it?

"Tell me, Henry..." Dolche waved the syringe in my face, "How do you feel about painkillers?"

_No._

I couldn't breathe. My lungs were constricting like they were being squeezed _hard._ My ribcage tried desperately to expand, but my vision was quickly blurring at the edges.

"I'm sure you're familiar with this."

How did they know!? Who told them!?

_"No, no please..."_ I felt like I was dying as I wheezed, pathetically begging for my life, _"Anything but that...just kill me..."_

_"Нет, нет..._ that would be too easy..." Dolche let the needle hover in my periphery before walking around me to get to my bound arm, "Just relax. It'll all be over soon."

"Please!" I tried to lean away, but Speck and Wagner held me still, _"Please please please please please..."_

The needle easily slid into my arm.

I don't know what happened after that. I was so scared, I think I blacked out, or repressed the memory.

All I know is that I woke up in a featureless concrete room that smelled foul, in near total darkness, so quiet that my ears were ringing.

Complete and utter isolation.

I was too numb to cry.

***


	12. Chapter 12

All I could do was count my ribs as I wasted away.

If I thought too much, it would hurt again. I recognized this feeling. I was filled with a sense of euphoria, drowsiness blurring my vision and making my muscles relax against my will. It wasn't quite as overwhelming as I remembered, but it was familiar enough that every sense was flooded with fear. I shivered on the concrete floor, pulling the fabric of my hoodie closer around myself. I received food and water through the tiny gap under the door a couple times, but I didn't eat, and I only took a few small sips of water. It would be an oddly peaceful death, I think, if I simply shriveled up on this concrete floor, nothing to keep me company but the smell of rotting flesh, urine, and feces.

I thought about Charles and Ellie a lot.

Whenever they came into my mind, I focused on them as hard as I could, trying to imagine that they were here with me. I wrapped my arms around myself as I imagined them on either side of me, crushing me between them in their loving embrace. I found no solace in my dreams, and I was too cold to really trick myself, but I focused on them. I flooded my thoughts with them whenever the fear hit. The drowsy euphoria from the drugs made it a little easier.

Strangely though, the high didn't last very long. They must not have given me much, because once the euphoria wore off, there was no withdrawal. I still felt fucking awful, though. I was beaten and bruised, freezing cold, completely exhausted, and utterly drained. My bones were sore from my dehydrated frame lying against the hard concrete floor, and I was so hungry, but I still refused to eat. If there was nothing in here to end my suffering quickly, then I was going to end it some other way.

I was ready to die. I hadn't been for so long. Even though I never truly feared it, I didn't want to die. Of course I didn't. Nobody really wants to die. I think everyone who longs for death is really just sick of suffering. I am no exception. I was at peace knowing that I was going to die. It was an odd feeling, but I welcomed it, knowing that I needed something to hold onto. Something to look forward to.

I don't know how long I was there. It could have been an eternity, but after what could have easily been that long, the steel door squealed open.

I didn't move. It was probably just one of the soldiers, and I didn't have the energy to sass them. I was just moments from slipping away forever.

When the figure leaned over me though, they caressed my cheek with a shaking hand. They did so gently, and the touch was soothing, not scary. It was...familiar, even.

I closed my eyes, just enjoying the feeling for the moment. I considered the idea that I was already dead, and this was a guardian angel ready to lead me to the afterlife.

That is, until he spoke.

_"Hhh...Henry...?"_

I looked up, squinting through the golden light pouring in through the door.

Red headphones. Green bomber jacket under a Russian parka. Colorful patches and pins. A bandage over his head, and a horrified expression on his face.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Henry..." Charles' voice was a little hoarse as he gingerly lifted me up into his arms. His body heat was a shock to my system, "Henry, what have they done to you?"

I know I must look pathetic. I wasn't even sure if what I was seeing or feeling was real.

"Henry, I'm so sorry..." Charles gagged, probably from the smell, "God, I need to get you out of here. Are you injured? Jesus, you're so bony... _Henry..."_

It was beginning to set in that Charles was really here. Once again, he had rescued me, and I hadn't even asked him to this time.

Charles carried me out of the room, hurrying down the stairs to a deserted storage room. He closed the door behind him and jammed his foot into the doorknob so it was impossible to open again, then he carried me to the back of the room, shedding his coat and wrapping me up in it as he leaned me back against a wooden crate. I melted into the warmth as it quickly seeped into me, though as the cold faded, so did my tolerance for the pain.

"You need water." Charles fished a canteen out of his pocket, which he popped open and held to my lips, "Please. _Please,_ Henry."

I opened my mouth, if only because he sounded so frantic, and he carefully poured little bits of water into my mouth, which I swallowed with some difficulty before he prompted me to take another sip. After several slow gulps that left my stomach feeling painfully full, I forced my lips together, preventing him from making me drink anymore.

"Okay. Okay, that should be fine." Charles put the canteen away, "Henry, stay with me. You're gonna be okay."

I just focused on breathing, afraid that any words that left me would just be replaced by crying.

"You're okay, Henry." Charles hugged me, "I'm here now."

It was so much better than in my imagination. Charles was strong but gentle. Firm, loving, and _so warm._

I was glad to have this one last time.

However...everything was getting worse. Death felt so far away now, and the pain was coming back as Charles brought me back to the real world. My heart was fluttering, both in happiness and in near-deathly agony. I wanted to tell him that I was in so much pain, that I wanted him to stop holding me, but I couldn't get the words out.

"Henry?" he finally noticed my distress, "Henry, I'm so sorry. Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?"

"Why are you here?"

His mouth hung open for a second before he replied, "What? Henry, why do you _think_ I'm here? I wanted to save you."

"You shouldn't have bothered." I threw his coat off to feel the chill again, "I was ready to die. Now everything just hurts."

"It won't hurt forever." he took my hands, rubbing them between his own, "Trust me. Once we get you home and fix you up and get some food in you-!"

"It won't matter! Those goons will come back for me!" I took the fabric of my shirt in a tight fist, "Charles...I _can't._ Don't make me live through this even longer."

"I don't want you to die." Charles lifted my gaze, "Please. I love you. Let me help you."

God, he was being so nice. Charles is just a natural sweetheart. He always has been.

_And here he is; Wasting it on someone who doesn't deserve it._

"Henry, listen to me." Charles kissed my forehead, "I mean it. I want to help you. I'm sorry you've been beaten down so much, but this isn't the end. You'll be fine."

My gaze wandered to the crates in the room. The supplies.

"Charles..."

He tenderly cradled my cheek, "Yes? What do you need?"

I closed my eyes, clawing at my chest and feeling the empty gap in my hoodie where my pepper spray used to be.

_"Don't touch me."_

His hand flew back, "Henry? S-sorry, I-I..."

I reached behind me, getting up on wobbly knees to grab the shiny weapon.

"Henry, what are you-!?"

I pushed him, standing up and backing away to the side wall.

"I love you too, Charles." I checked the pistol to make sure it was loaded, "I'm so lucky to have known someone like you. Can you tell Ellie I love her? And...that it isn't your fault or hers?"

Charles froze, his hands violently shaking as they lifted to cover his mouth.

I felt so much lighter, now. There was a way out after all.

I lifted the gun to my head.

"Henry, _no!"_ Charles began to hyperventilate, "Holy shit! Please don't! Please stop! I _beg_ of you!"

I was smiling blissfully, in contrast to his clear panic. I really don't know what was up with me in that moment, staring at Charles being pushed onto the verge of a panic attack with a soft, genuine smile on my face.

Regardless, I continued, "I'll miss you, Charles. Wherever I'm going."

"Henry. Please. Put the gun down. Put it down. Put it down, please, I swear, please, I can't lose you like this I need you to work with me here please please PLEASE!"

When Charles had attempted suicide, he had been scared, shaking and shivering as he fought a war inside his own head, but Henry was calm. Happy, even. It terrified him beyond words. Charles had been conflicted about ending his own life, but Henry was decided.

He hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

"Charles..." I laughed softly, blissfully, "Do you have anything you need to say to me before I go?"

_I don't want you to go. I love you. Please stay with me. I'll be destroyed if you go. Don't do this._

None of it would help. Henry was a stubborn man. If Charles really wanted to save him, he would have to do something drastic.

I watched a look of epiphany cross Charles' features as he reached for his own belt...

_Oh no._

He flicked the safety off and pressed his own gun to his own head, almost mirroring exactly what I was doing.

"If you're going out like this..." he huffed out a rough exhale, "...then so am I."

_Fuck._

I was distracted by the image of Charles holding a gun to his head. It was like an ocean wave crashed over my brain and watered down my entire being. My thought process. I think my soul actually left my body for a second.

_Is this how he feels?_

I slowly lowered the gun, and Charles lowered his in turn, deflating slightly in relief as he held out his hand. I looked at the gun in my hand for a moment too long before handing it over, and he put the safety on and set it aside.

He holstered his pistol, "Thank you, Henry."

My bones were heavy again as the reality of my choice set in, "When will it stop hurting?"

Charles pulled me into an embrace, and this time, I didn't fight it.

"I don't know." he gently ghosted his fingers over the bruises all over my body, "But it'll get better. You were happy once, right? You can get there again."

He gently lowered me to the floor, cradling me in his arms like he had that day in the general's office, settling me in his lap and holding my head in the crook of his neck. I huddled close to him. I began to cry.

"I met Lincoln."

I sniffled, my hands finding purchase on Charles' jacket collar.

"He said you were really cool." he lifted my shirt to carefully inspect my injuries, "He asked if you were okay. I guess you're worse off than I thought."

I curled up so my forehead was pressed against his neck.

_He's so warm..._

"What happened, Henry?" he took something out of his pocket, some kind of cream for cuts and abrasions, "You were fine last week, weren't you? How did you go from that to full-blown suicidal?"

"Charles, I..." I took a shuttering breath, "It's...it's always been there. Under the surface. I've just been ignoring it."

He held me closer with one hand as he spread the cold ointment over the skin on my back and side, "Why didn't you just talk to us?"

"I don't know. That probably would have been a better idea." I flinched weakly when Charles' hand slid further up my shirt, "I guess...talking about it was hard. I tried, but the words wouldn't come."

Charles lifted me off of him to reach more torn skin, and we went quiet as he worked. Eventually, he pulled my shirt back down and held me close to him once again, wrapping me up in the coat he'd been wearing over jacket before. It was working. The pain was easing. Well, the physical pain, anyway.

He whispered in my ear, "Ellie told me about your dad."

I seized up.

"I'm sorry." he held me tighter, "I'm so sorry I failed you again. I'm so sorry you felt like you had to run again. I'm such an idiot for making you think it was your only option."

The reality of his words crashed over me, "What? Charles, what are you talking about?"

He looked at me, "Henry, you wouldn't have left if I had just..."

"Huh? Wait, no! Have you been blaming yourself for this the whole time!?" my throat hurt, but I tried to raise my voice anyway, "Didn't I say in my note that you shouldn't blame yourself!? I didn't leave because of anything you did!"

"Exactly. I didn't do anything. I _never_ do anything. No matter how much I want to help you, it's _never good enough..."_

His sentence broke off with a sob, and he covered his face with one hand. I didn't know what to say. Words were failing me once again.

"Charles..." I took his face in my hands, wiping the tears away with my thumbs, "Charles, I...you're wonderful. You never stop being wonderful. How could you think anything differently? You're the reason I'm even alive in the first place because you've saved my life more times than I can count. If anything, it's my fault that I failed to communicate with you. How were you supposed to know I was going to run? How could you have stopped me? Regardless, you tried to be there when I needed you. You tried to help me at every turn, and how did I repay you? _By leaving."_

He was stunned. It kinda broke me to know that he really had thought he'd done something wrong. Like he had failed me somehow, when in reality, I'm just a dickhead for making him worry so much.

"If anything, I don't feel like I'm good enough for you." my voice had softened to a hush, "It makes me feel guilty knowing that you've given your love to me when someone else could easily be so much better. That's how I feel about Ellie, too. You guys would be better off as just a two-person couple, without me to muddy the waters. My death would have hurt you, and I know what I almost did just now is so selfish, but you would have gotten over it. Eventually. I would be a piece of shit for breaking your heart, but I shouldn't've had it anyway. I don't deserve it."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!" I said more desperately, "Don't you get it!? I'm a garbage excuse for a human! My very _existence_ has been hurting people since before I was even born! There's no way around that! The fact that I was able to be born in the first place is bad enough, but I've been doing nothing but hurt people ever since! I hurt my mom, my Aunt Penny, the doctors in the hospital, the guy who unwittingly almost helped me rob a bank, the cops in the prison...heck, I threw a _massive diamond_ at someone so I could escape with it! I've hurt everyone I've ever met, whether they deserved it or not, but that wasn't good enough for me, was it? Because now I've even hurt the very people I wanted to protect the most..."

I collapsed against his shoulder, completely out of breath. That was it. Those were the words I've been trying to let loose for so long. It was a relief to finally get it all out when I'd been holding it inside for such a long time, like a shaken can of soda was finally cracked open.

I was tired enough to fall asleep, but the pain kept me up.

"Henry..." Charles pulled me back to look at me again, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, "God, where do I start..."

I deadpanned, "Are you going to deny it?"

"Okay, so let me get this straight..." his gaze was piercing, "You think you've caused nothing but suffering since the day you were _conceived?_ Okay, first of all, how can you blame yourself for something you don't even remember?"

I opened my mouth, but no words escaped me.

"I understand that learning this about yourself must have been awful. What your dad did was _awful,_ but you aren't him. Don't blame _yourself_ for what _he_ did. Second of all, you didn't hurt your mom or your aunt by simply existing. Your mom made the conscious choice to save you from a gunshot, and the only reason your aunt was hurt was because she missed you, right? You didn't hurt the doctors, it's literally their job to help people, and the guy who put your sack in the bank vault didn't see any consequences of that. I should know, I _personally_ handled your case after you were kidnapped for the airship mission. You didn't hurt the cops by simply escaping, I know that for a fact, and as for the diamond? Yeah, you did kinda take that too far, but you've been pardoned, and the guy you threw the diamond at ended up surviving. You broke a few ribs, sure, but I'll be damned if I'm holding _that_ over your head after you were _pardoned!"_

"Charles-!"

"Ap ap ap! You _had_ your chance to talk! Now it's _my_ turn!" he tutted at me like I was a guilty child, "You're not taking responsibility for anything you allegedly did by running off and killing yourself; All you're doing is piling unnecessary guilt on yourself for no fucking reason. Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? What if your dad had robbed that bank instead? Would _that_ be your fault?"

_"Charles!"_

"I'm not done! What about Rupert? He's one of my closest friends in the force, but the only reason we got you on the old base is because he chloroformed you! D'you think I hold that over his head? D'you think I start conversations by saying, 'Oh hey, Rupert! Remember that time you chloroformed my boyfriend? _That was pretty fucked up, huh!?'"_

_"WHAT ABOUT YOU AND ELLIE!?"_

He went quiet, holding my head up as it threatened to fall.

He nuzzled my forehead, "What _about_ us? We wouldn't have even _met_ if it wasn't for you."

I wanted so badly to kiss him, but after who knows how long in that cell without a toothbrush, I'd rather not contaminate his mouth with my germs. God, what would we look like to an outside observer?

His breath smelled like peppermint.

"Yeah, but...it was just by chance..."

"You and Ellie were probably going to meet at some point anyway. You think I would have considered someone like Ellie on my own? Sure, we've both had government jobs, but people who work for government agencies are actually pretty different from people who enlist in the military. Without you, I'm sure the two of us wouldn't have even met, let alone started dating. You were the link that brought us together. You were the chance encounter. You made that difference, even if at first you hadn't meant to. In fact, I bet in another timeline, you and Ellie escaped The Wall together. You just work well together, just like you work well with me."

I watched his patient smile twist into a pained grimace.

"Please don't leave me, Henry. Don't leave _us._ We love you. _Please_ let me help you."

I let my hands rest on his, still holding up my head, and I turned my head to kiss the palm of his hand.

"Okay." I said, "I won't leave. I'll stay for you, and for Ellie."

"Promise?"

His voice whined. _God,_ why is Charles so good at messing with my heart!?

"Yes." I said in exasperation, "I promise."

He grinned, "Thank you, Henry. _Thank_ you."

He moved to kiss me, but I covered his mouth and pushed him away, "Hey, I'm so sorry to ask this of you, but you wouldn't happen to have a toothbrush on you...?"

He laughed as he retrieved a brand new toothbrush from the inside of his jacket, still encased in plastic packaging.

"You know me too well, Hen."

***


	13. Chapter 13

Charles returned to the metal door as I squeezed the whole tube of travel-sized toothpaste into my mouth and scrubbed my teeth and tongue with the toothbrush until my gums were red and raw. I spit into the corner, wiping my mouth with my sleeve as I straightened up, already feeling so much better just from the feeling of having smooth enamel that I could run my tongue over. It brought me closer to feeling alive again, the darkness of death's door further retreating for another day.

Charles wrapped the coat around me again before breaking the door off its hinges with his robotic arm, "Can you walk on your own? Do you need more water?"

"I'm fine, Charles." I assured, following close behind him into the bright hallway, "Um...how long was I trapped in there?"

"A little over two days." Charles wrapped an arm around me when my stomach grumbled, "Hey, do you want something to eat? I brought snacks and stuff with me. There's even more in the helicopter."

"How about we focus on getting out of here first."

"You can eat and walk at the same time, come on."

My stomach twisted like it was trying to devour itself, and I slumped, rubbing my face, "Fine. Hand it over."

He passed me a package of little taffy bites. Dammit, he knew I loved those. I popped one in my mouth, realized just how hungry I was, and devoured even more, leaving a trail of candy wrappers behind us as we walked.

"What became of the soldiers?" I said before popping another candy.

"If the original plan went through, they should be on the surface, on the helipad." he touched his headset, "Ellie, this is Charles. I'm approaching the front door near the docks with our charge. Begin phase two."

_"Yeesh! Get back to me sooner next time, dumbass! I thought you were dead!"_

"Sorry. I ran into aaa... _bit_ of a snag. We're ready now, though. Go."

_"Okay! Initiating phase two!"_

Charles held my hand to lead me out of the building, and I stuffed the empty package in the coat. I felt overly full, but miraculously, I didn't feel nauseated. Just tired.

_"Okay, Charles, they've shot the helicopter! What do I do!?"_

"Fall back, obviously!"

I watched as the helicopter came down, one of its engine's smoking. I could see Liam Rodgers in the cockpit, another high-ranking government pilot who was good friends with Charles but hated me _(probably because of the incident with the teleporter where I made him accidentally shoot at me, but hey, at least he missed)._

"Henry!"

Ellie! Lincoln was there, too, and he was waving his arms in the air as the helicopter lowered more and more.

"Henry." Ellie pulled me into an embrace, "Oh my gosh! You're a walking _skeleton!"_

"I'm fine, Ellie." I tried to stop her from touching my bruises, "I'm fine. I'm okay."

I don't think she believed me.

As her eyes wandered over my frame, hunched over and caved in like it had the life sucked out of it, she began to shake. Not in fear or worry, no...

She was _angry._

"Henry, why!?" she held my arms too tight, to the point where I was sure they would bruise even more, "We tried to help! I was there for you, and you just... _left_ me!"

Charles pried her off of me, "Ellie! Lay off the guy, wouldya!?"

"But he _abandoned_ us! Does that matter to you at _all!?"_

"Look, we can talk about this later. Henry's had a long day. Actually, more of a long _week."_

"He scared me! What if he does this again!?"

Lincoln tried to get between them, but they didn't even look at him.

I fell against the wall of the helicopter, feeling numb. I shouldn't be taking this so personally. Ellie wasn't really mad at me, this is just how she copes with grief, and yet the guilt that I was trying to ignore was brought back to the surface.

"Hey, Henry, look at me." Charles shook me lightly, "Please don't cry. You're going to be okay. Listen to me, okay?"

I couldn't hear him. My throat was burning. My eyes spilled over against my will as I strongly regretted having eaten a whole bag of candy.

"Guys, now's not the time!" Liam called from the cockpit, "We're still under attack, and I can't contact the general!"

An explosion hit the side of the helicopter, and I stumbled, falling backwards towards the still open door-!

Lincoln was the only one who saw it in time to react. He jumped forward, yanking me back inside as Liam jerked the hulking vehicle to get it airborne again. Charles caught me as Ellie reached for Lincoln, but it was too late. The swinging motion threw him out of the cargo bay and into the sky over the dock.

"LINCOLN!"

He managed to grab the side of the cliff before he fell into the water, but there were Russian soldiers on the cliff. Pretty soon, he would be forced to let go.

So, thinking fast, I grabbed an extra coat and dove after him.

"HENRY, _NO!"_

The side of the helicopter crashed into the trees, propelled by a super-charged taser held by one of the soldiers. I ignored it for the moment, pulling Lincoln back onto solid ground and hastily putting the coat on him.

Lincoln tugged on my arm, tapping the palm of his hand with one finger and shaking his head. He'd lost my phone.

"Don't worry about that now!" I yanked him after me, "Just run!"

Soldiers surrounded the helicopter as I ran off with Lincoln, wracking my brain for anything I could do to get the helicopter off the cliff before it exploded. Black smoke poured from the front of the vehicle as it crumpled, the door facing away from the trees having caved in to prevent it from opening.

"Well, now..." Danil pushed to the front of the group, holding up his hand, "Cease fire. This has just gotten interesting."

I shielded Lincoln with my arm, though my shaky legs threatened to throw me back into the snow.

"Don't bother. You know we always wanted you." Danil held up a can of pepper spray. It was _my pepper spray,_ "You know what's worse than dying, Henry?"

I didn't answer. My voice was seized by petrifying terror.

He hooked the spray to his belt and picked up a pistol instead, waving it in my direction as he took another step, and I tried so hard to cover Lincoln with my body so he couldn't be hit.

Danil nodded towards one of the stronger-looking soldiers, who grabbed me, restraining my arms behind my back.

Danil hit me with a pained expression I'll never forget, _"Losing someone dear to you."_

_BANG!_

The bullet hit Lincoln in the chest, spilling bright red blood all over the otherwise pristine-white snow as he fell onto his back. His bangs flew up, showing the briefest flicker of shock in his eyes before he went limp.

I finally released the scream that was trapped in my throat. I struggled against the strongman until the bleeding slowed, when he let go of me, and I rushed to Lincoln's side.

Danil sheathed the pistol, "We're done here, soldiers! Mission complete!"

I cradled Lincoln to my chest, dizzy at the smell of blood as the thick hot liquid oozed between my fingers and provided a huge contrast to the bitter cold and endless white and grey. My tears soaked into his hair as I squeezed him, holding on to some bitter, fleeting hope that a man can survive losing all their blood.

I don't know how long I'd been sitting there, my heart sending needle-sharp pain directly to my spinal cord with grief and guilt eating me alive, but eventually, the fog cleared, and I wondered if you can die from heartache.

"Henry."

I looked up. It was General Galeforce.

He gazed at me empathetically. Patiently. He placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry we didn't get here sooner."

I wiped my tears away, smearing blood on my face, _"General..."_

"I know, Soldier. At ease." he offered me a hug, which I neither accepted nor rejected. I just kinda leaned into him, my eyes slipping closed as I fought the urge to succumb to unconsciousness.

"Henry?"

The helicopter hadn't exploded. Charles, Ellie, and Liam were all alive and uninjured. Ellie was kneeling beside me, and the closer she got, the worse I felt.

_"Ellie..."_ I sniffed as more tears spilled over, _"I'm so sorry..."_

She numbly reached for Lincoln, and I handed him over, watching as tears fell from her own face. Her expression didn't change from complete and utter shock as the tears came down faster and faster. She just gently cradled him as his eyes began to sink into his skull, glassy and lifeless. Staring at nothing.

Finally, a scream ripped from her throat.

_"NOOOOOOO!!!"_ she held him tight to her body, _"LINCOLN!!! No...no no no..."_

She burst into violent sobbing, her cries echoing off the cliffs as she held Lincoln tight to her body. She rocked back and forth with him, her arms shaking as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

_"My brother..."_ she hiccupped, _"My baby brother...you were so young..."_

Charles leaned over me, placing his metal hand on my shoulder while his other reached out for-!

Wait. Charles hand. Charles' cyborg hand. Charles hand that he got from-!

"Guys!"

They all looked at me.

Ellie sniffed, _"What?"_

"The doctor! Doctor Vinschpinsilstien! She said that Charles was legally dead before she gave him these upgrades! _We can still save him!"_

Ellie stood up, Lincoln in her arms, "What are we waiting for, then!? Let's go get her!"

"Charles, you can take the small helicopter back to base." Galeforce said.

"Of course, sir! Are there any other injured soldiers we need to take back with us!?"

"That won't be necessary. Our medics are on it as we speak. Now go!"

"Yes sir!"

The three of us piled into the helicopter, with Ellie still holding Lincoln close to herself, and without further ado, we were off.

Ellie sat in the cargo bay with Lincoln's body, so I took that as my invitation to sit in the copilot seat. I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep now.

"Charles, why are we going back to base? Isn't Vinch in her, like, travelling boat or something?"

Charles didn't look at me.

"Charles?"

"I heard you." Charles rubbed the back of his neck, "Listen, Henry...I...I needed an adjustment on my cybernetics. So..."

"Oh. Is that why you have this bandage on your head?"

He touched it gently, "Y-yeah..."

"What happened? You didn't get hurt...?"

"No no, I..." Charles sighed, flicking on the autopilot as he buried his face in his hands.

I reached out, hesitated, then placed a hand on his shoulder, "Charles...?"

"Okay...please don't be mad."

I balked, "Mad? What could I possibly get mad at _you_ for? I just got done singing your praises in that storage room!"

"Uh, heheh, y-yeah, a-about that..." he laughed nervously as tears gathered in his eyes, which promptly squinted shut, "Just...just promise you won't be mad at me."

"Okay. I promise."

Charles guided the autopilot in the right direction before taking a huge, deep breath, his hands clasped in front of his nose as if in prayer.

"I almost killed myself."

I recoiled like I'd been stabbed. I wondered fleetingly if it had been some kind of prank, but Charles could never hold back his laughter if he was telling a joke, nor his despair if he was dead serious.

And at the moment, he was holding back tears as he stared at me expectantly, no trace of laughter whatsoever.

I didn't know what to say. I fell back into my seat.

"Henry, please say something." Charles fixed his gaze out the windshield, "You're scaring me."

I was too tired to cry, but apparently not too tired to feel the way my heart ached.

I slowly exhaled, "Charles...I'm sorry."

"Please. Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault."

"No, I made you put a gun to your own head so I wouldn't shoot myself." I said, "That's what I'm apologizing for. I can't imagine how that made you feel. I'm sorry."

He corrected the autopilot's path again before looking at me again, "It's okay. You didn't know."

I didn't know that he had tried something like that. I didn't know he was going to put a gun to his own head to stop me. I didn't know what he was willing to sacrifice for me. I couldn't fathom how he could love me so much. Was it even close to how much I loved him?

"Uh, Charles..." I turned towards him in my seat, "If I knock the wheel, will we crash?"

He flipped a switch, _"Now_ we won't. Why?"

"Okay, cool. Just making sure."

Then I grabbed his face and full-on kissed him. He immediately jumped into the copilot seat beside me and held my body against his so I could feel the shape of his metal cybernetics underneath his shirt.

I was already tired, and I felt so safe like that, so before I'd even broken off from the kiss, I had completely passed out.

***


	14. Chapter 14

We were waiting outside the OR for hours. As soon as we touched down and Vinschpinsilstien's eyes landed on Lincoln, she didn't hesitate, didn't ask any questions, just immediately grabbed him and carried him to the OR, slamming the door shut behind her.

We gave her space while she worked. Ellie paced nervously while Charles tried to console her. As for me, I ended up sleeping through most of it in the medical wing, being spoon fed occasionally as I was too weak to hold anything heavier than an apple. This was when I tried to explain things. Danil, the complex defectors...

I didn't tell them about the drugs, though. I was too emotionally drained to even think about that now.

When I awoke after maybe six hours of dead unconsciousness, Ellie was sitting on the edge of the bed, biting her nails.

I reached up and took her hand away from her mouth, "Ellie?"

She frowned at me, climbing into the bed beside me and crying into my shirt, _"H-hey. How're you feeling?"_

I rolled onto my side to hug her properly, "Honestly? Kinda shitty. I feel better now that you're here, though. How are you doing?"

_"Horrible! Who shot him, Henry!? Who do I need to kill!?"_

I pulled the covers up over her head, "It was Dolche. You know, the tank driver?"

"I want to kill him!"

"I know."

"I want to kill him so bad, Henry!"

"I know, Ellie."

She buried her face in my chest as she cried, and I squeezed her, trying to ground her in the real world so she didn't spiral. I knew the feeling all too well.

_"I'm sorry, Henry..."_

"Huh?"

She looked up at me, the most broken-hearted expression I've ever seen on her plastered all over her face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you back there. I was stressed and terrified, but that's no excuse. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Ellie, it's okay."

"No it's _not!_ I _hurt_ you! I made you _cry!_ I didn't know about your suicide attempt, but I was still completely out of line-!"

"Ellie! Look at me!" I sat up, holding her face in my hands. She made no attempt to fight it, "Look at me. If I say it's okay, then it's okay. Got it?"

Her eyes widened, and without another thought, she kissed me. Charles sat on the bed beside us, and I could see his smile when my eyelids cracked open.

Suddenly, Vinschpinsilstien emerged from the OR, looking scraggly and tired after so long in surgery. She hadn't even changed out of her bloodstained apron.

"I have news."

All three of us leapt to our feet, "You do!?" Ellie practically screamed, her arms shaking as she clasped her hands in a silent plea, "Tell me he's okay! He's not dead, right!?"

Vinschpinsilstien took her glasses off, sighing long and heavy. I felt a rock drop into my stomach. Were we too late?

Was he...gone?

Finally, Vinschpinsilstien softly answered, "I don't know."

Charles gulped loudly, "You don't know?"

"There's a reason why I do not operate on anyone who has hope of living otherwise." she explained, clearly upset and exhausted, "Cybernetic augmentations are a huge shock to the body. Sometimes the body has an allergic reaction, sometimes the body fails to integrate into the enhancements and they work as two separate beings, and sometimes the immune system sees the enhancements as a foreign invader and attacks them. If this happens, he will die instantly, and there will be nothing I can do to save him."

Ellie swayed on her feet, and Charles and I both moved to catch her in case she fell, "When will we know if he's okay?"

Vinschpinsilstien massaged her forehead, a noticeable crease between her thin eyebrows, "I would give him about twenty four hours to wake up. If he does not, then we will know he is lost to us. Perhaps you should say goodbye to him now, while there's a chance he can still hear you."

That declaration made Ellie actually fall, and Charles and I caught her, lowering her to her knees on the floor.

"I don't _want_ to say goodbye!" Ellie grabbed fistfuls of her hair to tug on it violently, "I _just_ got him back! He's my _brother!_ You _can't_ let him die!"

"I have done all I can." Vinschpinsilstien went back into the OR, leaving the door open, "I will keep an eye on him just in case, but his vitals are stable, so we can do nothing more than wait."

Lincoln was in a sad state. He had a sickly green pallor, a stitched-up incision across his chest from his collarbone to the bottom of his ribcage, and he had a tube down his throat, with an IV in his hand and a sensor over his index finger. The tray beside him was covered in tiny bloody fragments of bone. He was such a small person. Seeing those big ugly stitches that at best would leave a nasty scar made something inside me hurt.

Ellie stood beside him, taking his hand. He appeared to be breathing, and his skin was warm. Ellie felt for a pulse, even though the monitor beside him clearly showed one. She turned her head to the side, and her hands flew up to her mouth.

In a shaking voice, she asked, _"Wh-wh-what's th-that?"_

"Oh, this." Vinschpinsilstien cringed as she moved something; a clear bin with a bloody mass inside it, "This is his old heart. It was beyond repair, so I was force to replace it."

Ellie blanched, falling onto one knee hard enough to bruise it. I got to her side before Charles did, and Charles took her from me, wrapping her up in a loving embrace with her head against his chest.

I put my hands on the floor to steady myself. Lincoln wasn't a child. While he was small, he was clearly excitable and full of spunk, plus he was stronger than he looked, so hearing that he'd needed to get his _entire heart replaced_ was just so sickening. It was vile.

Someone had looked at that wonderful, silly young man with a heart of gold and shot him through the chest without even flinching.

I was brought back to meeting Charles for the first time after his so-called death. He had barely recognized me. He pointed a laser gun at my chest and tried to shoot me. He cried about how he was afraid of hurting me.

I heard the drops fall before I saw them. My vision was blurry, and the drops were coming from my own face. I reached up to touch them, and one trailed down my finger. When had I started crying?

_He did it to get back at you. You killed someone he cared about, so he returned the favor. It would have been more merciful to let you die._

_It should have been you._

_"It should have been me..."_

Ellie broke away from Charles' hold, "Henry?"

"It should have been me!" I crumpled on the floor, my fists smacking into the polished tile, "Lincoln shouldn't have had to die for me! I don't deserve to live in his place! It should have been me! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!!!"

"Henry! Get ahold of yourself!" Ellie shook my shoulders, and it was her strong grip alone that held me upright, "You really think we prefer if _you_ had died instead!? I would be _crushed_ if you died!"

"Me too!" Charles swept me up gently, probably seeing me in such a fragile state and hoping he could soothe me, "Henry, please don't think like that. Please. You promised me, remember? You _promised_ you would stay for us, so don't talk like that. _Please."_

"I can't take this. Charles, I should be dead. I know what I said, but I can't stop these feelings! It hurts so much! I WANT TO DIE!!!"

_You want to die._

_How pathetic._

"Shhh..." Charles rocked back and forth with me in his arms, "Shhhhhh...you're okay, you're okay...I've got you now, Hennee..."

Ellie joined in the embrace, her chest pressed up against my back, "I'm sorry, Hen. Breathe for us, okay? Just breathe. I love you."

I wanted to be unconscious. I wanted to sleep forever. I wanted to curl up in a well somewhere and slowly freeze. I wanted to throw myself off a building and watch the floors speed by until everything went dark.

But a tiny part of me recognized this. Recognized Charles' and Ellie's arms around me. Recognized their voices, their words, their touch, their wonderful, _wonderful_ brand of kindness they reserved only for me and for each other. I was bundled up in a cocoon of love. Warm and inviting like a campfire. Sweeter than the perfect roasted marshmallow. More breathtaking than every star in the sky.

So much of me hurt, weighed down by guilt and trauma, but a tiny sliver of me recognized this comfort. That voice in my head protested it, tried to claim that I didn't deserve _one_ loving partner let alone _two,_ but I tried to silence it just this once. I wanted to enjoy this. I was sick of feeling like I was a burden on others, like my mere existence hurt people.

_"I'm sorry..."_ I huddled further into Charles' shirt, _"Lincoln is the one who's hurt, but I'm making you guys comfort me instead..."_

"You aren't making us do anything, Hen." Ellie kissed the back of my neck, "We're comforting you because we love you. I'm sorry you feel so bad."

"Yeah. Don't feel bad, Henry." Charles added, "It's okay."

_"What did I do to deserve you two?"_

"Everything, Hen." Ellie said like it was obvious, "Remember when I was cold and you shared the sleeping bag with me? I still think about that all these months later."

I felt Charles smile against my head, "And remember when you kissed me to break me from RHM's mind control? I felt like I was in a fairytale!"

"And when you comforted me when Petrov scared me shitless?"

"And when you came after me when the airship was crashing?"

With each nice thing they listed that I had done, I felt my heavy heart begin to float, like it was finding the surface again after so long being drowned. Some of the things they listed I didn't even remember, and not all of them were nice things I had done for them specifically.

"Yunno, the General says it's a shame that you didn't accept the position." Charles said in a teasing voice, "He said that your service since your pardon has even rivalled that of many dedicated veterans. If anything, we're a burden on you!"

I didn't reply.

"Henry..." Ellie rested her cheek on my shoulder, "Lincoln told us what you did. You were patient with him. You didn't force him to do anything against his will, and you didn't push him past his limits. You listened to him. Anyone who listens enough to remember that specific way he shows affection doesn't deserve someone bad-mouthing them, even if the one throwing the insults is themself."

My heart swelled like a balloon in my chest, and I couldn't contain the giggles that bubbled out of me, _"Guys, you're gonna make me bawl like a baby!"_

"Go ahead, man!" Charles sharply pat my back, "We're all friends here!"

We heard someone clear their throat beside us. Oh, right. We were still on the floor of the OR. Vinschpinsilstien was still there, and once she had our attention, she crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry. I feel this is a private conversation, but I didn't want to ruin the moment."

"It's cool." I let Charles help me up, my gaze turning back to Lincoln on the operating table.

Charles kept an arm around me. Ellie gently tucked a hair behind Lincoln's ear. We were silent for a bit.

"Lincoln." I said, "If you really can hear us, I'm sorry I'm such a mess. Stay strong for us, man. I..."

I couldn't say goodbye. He was eighteen. So young. He couldn't die now. It was an injustice.

"We'll...be waiting for you." I ruffled his hair before stuffing my hands in my jean pockets and leaving the OR.

I didn't hear what Charles and Ellie said to him, but once they were finished saying what they needed to say to the dying teenager, they followed me out, and their footsteps stopped behind me as I stood in the hallway, apathetically staring down at my shoes.

"Well..." Charles scratched the back of his head, "What now?"

I lifted my head, closing my eyes and breathing in and out slowly.

I turned towards them. Ellie cocked her head. I couldn't believe how tired they looked. Almost as tired as I felt.

I inhaled as I fixed my gaze at them, my brows hanging low over my face.

"I want to kill Dolche."

Ellie matched my determined frown, walking over to me and taking my hand, "I'll help you."

"Huh?" Charles waved his hands, "Wait wait wait...you're going to kill _another_ Russian official?"

"Yeah, man."

"But that's illegal!"

"That hasn't stopped me before."

He huffed in frustration, and I felt the corners of my mouth twitch up. He was so cute like that.

"Henry, it was killing a Russian official that started this whole mess in the first place!"

"He shot Lincoln!" I burst out, stomping my foot, "Or did you forget!? I watched the light leave his eyes! We can't just let that bastard get away with it!"

"Henry, I agree with you in principle, but I can't risk your safety! I almost lost you! I can't let you-!"

Charles' voice broke as he let out a sob, choking up and finding it hard to breathe.

The guilt hit me again.

Without a second thought, I hugged him tight, "Charles...it'll be okay. I won't run away again. I'm going to stick by you, and I'm going to be careful. Dolche can't get away with this. He needs to be punished."

I expected him to argue with me. I expected to have to defend my actions further, but instead...he leaned forward and kissed my cheek, lingering over my jawline as his breath hit my ear. It sent tingles over the back of my neck.

When he pulled away, he was much calmer, "Alright. I won't let you do this alone, though. Count me in."

"Thank you, Charles." I stroked his cheek before letting my hands fall, "Okay. Here's what we're going to do..."

And with that, I ushered them closer to me, making sure my voice didn't carry.

***


	15. Chapter 15

"No."

_"Come on,_ General!" Charles gestured wildly with his arms, "We gotta stop them _somehow!"_

"Absolutely not! You three are out of your minds if you think I am authorizing something so reckless and dangerous!"

Ellie took a step forward, "But General-!"

"I said, absolutely _not!"_ Galeforce cut his arms through the air, "I am _not_ changing my mind on this matter! I _forbid_ you from doing this! That is an _order!"_

Anger didn't look good on the general. He was normally such a patient and soft-spoken man, so seeing him glaring at us like this, raising his voice to be heard even over our protests...

It was kinda...intimidating. _Scary_ even.

I crossed my arms, drawing myself up to my full height and hitting him with the hardest glare I could muster, "General-!"

"Oh, don't give me that, Stickmin." Galeforce matched my posture, the defiance radiating off of him like a space heater, "Don't even get me started on _you,_ young man. After the stunt you pulled, coming back looking like a corpse, and threatening suicide more than once, you must think me mad. If you value your life _OR_ the lives of your fellow soldiers, you will _NOT_ do this! I've let you do ridiculously stupid things before, but this? This is a _whole new brand_ of crazy!"

I was shaking at this point, but I didn't dare back down. I couldn't. If I did, I'd be letting Lincoln down. I'd be letting everyone down who was still in danger from Dolche. He was clearly able to operate even under the Russian government's nose, so who's to say he wouldn't try what Petrov had? A complex designed to hold people he and _not the law_ had deemed as criminals?

How would I communicate that to the general, though? How could I make sure that I got the words out?

"General, let me speak." I said in what I hoped was a brave voice, "Danil Dolche is not likely to stop at me. When I was being interrogated, he expressed that criminals deserved torturous punishment, including extreme isolation, starvation, sensory deprivation, and sensory overstimulation, sometimes all at the same time. I was in there with no light, but I smelled something akin to rotting flesh so often that I eventually stopped smelling it. They didn't even give me a bed. I slept on the concrete floor."

I could see Ellie trembling in my peripheral vision as she huddled into Charles' chest, probably reliving exactly what I was talking about, and it spurred me on even more.

"If he's willing to torture and kill Lincoln, someone who is not a criminal, someone who was only seventeen at the start of it and has a noticeable disability just because he wanted _me_ to suffer, then just _imagine_ what else he's willing to do for his own sick sense of justice. If we don't stop him, more people will get hurt. More people will suffer and die because I sat here like a coward while Dolche is left to continue his rampage."

For awhile, the look on the general's face was unreadable. His face was completely red in anger, but his expression was nothing more than disapproving as he tapped his foot.

Finally, he spoke, his voice lowered. Dangerous, "Son...it really is none of our business what goes on in another country. You already went too far in killing Dmitri Petrov. I will speak to the Russian government about Danil Dolche and his operations. If you continue to poke your nose where it doesn't belong, it could start a war. Is that what you want?"

A war. Something we'd been hoping to avoid for decades.

I grit my teeth so hard my jaw hurt, "No. _They_ went too far when they tortured Lincoln and me, and then killed him when he had nothing to do with anything. Lincoln is currently fighting for his life with a cybernetic heart because Dolche wanted to punish me so badly, and yet _I'm_ the bad guy for wanting justice? For wanting to end this vicious cycle? For taking matters into my own hands?"

"Henry Stickmin, I will not be-!"

_"I'm. Not. Finished."_ I ground out, "You do know that Dolche did this _because_ I killed Petrov, right?"

His eyes flew wide open. Apparently, he hadn't known.

"That's... _that's even worse!_ If you keep killing more people, you're going to get more angry loved ones on your hands!"

"Are you going to let me finish?"

I could feel Charles' eyes on me as Galeforce relented, and I took another breath of air.

_"They_ are the ones who started this. If we don't finish it, it will just keep going on uninterrupted. If Dolche was able to become a Russian government official and blackmail me with an American prisoner, then can you _imagine_ what he could do before he's caught? None of those soldiers were in standard Russian military uniform except for Dolche, they were in _complex_ uniform! What's the plan, General? Just let them go unchecked? Trust that these guys won't meddle in our affairs anymore? _Wait for someone else to die!?"_

His anger faded somewhat, but I didn't dare let my guard down. Just because he was entertaining the idea doesn't mean he would change his mind. After all, this is _Galeforce_ I'm talking to. His plans were often straightforward and simple compared to mine, like a version of Occam's razor.

I lifted my head a bit so I was looking down at him over my nose, "Well, General? I'm waiting..."

I heard Charles take a breath behind me. Galeforce didn't back down. Nobody moved.

Finally, Galeforce sighed, allowing some of the tension to ease off.

"I know." his gaze turned sad, "I know that everything you say is true. People are in danger if Dolche is left at large, and there's no guarantee that the Russian government will take him seriously before it is too late, but Henry, I still cannot allow this. You were seriously hurt by them. You still haven't eaten enough, you're sick as a dog, you're dehydrated, and you're mentally unstable, and that's not an insult, mind you, it's just a statement of fact. I'm worried about your strength on a mission like this, and I'm afraid you will be too flippant with your own life. I cannot allow you to die like this. My soldiers are my top priority, and that includes you. What if you fail the mission? What if you get hurt and I can't save you again? What happens then?"

I couldn't hold eye contact anymore. I could feel the pricks on the back of my eyes and the ache in my chest that was a telltale sign of another breakdown. My knees struggled to hold my weight, and my spine threatened to cave.

My throat was closed up. I didn't have an answer for him.

"Henry?" Ellie took my arm, "Are you okay?"

Charles took my other arm. They grounded me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, struggling to keep my breaths coming in even, "Sir, I understand. I'm not really in mission-ready shape right now, and I've given you no reason to trust me after I went against you so many times, but what's the alternative? Just stay here? Wait for Lincoln to wake up? Think about the threats and shit that Dolche dished out to me?"

Galeforce shook his head, "I'd prefer that over you getting killed, son. I mean it. This is not a mission I will authorize. Now please. Go get some rest. I'll send a medic shortly to diagnose the severity of your illness."

I could feel the despair crawling up my throat like a centipede. This isn't how it was supposed to go. I didn't want to, but I had to use my last resort. The piece of information that I didn't want to reveal if I didn't have to, but I _knew_ it would get my point across. It would reveal _exactly_ the kind of person that Dolche was, and how we did _not_ want him as a threat in the foreseeable future, or ever for that matter.

"He gave me heroin."

Charles and Ellie froze on either side of me. Galeforce didn't understand the reaction.

"What? What do you...?"

"Wait, he did? R-really?" Charles' eyes were wide in horror, "Why? How did he get it?"

Ellie held me tighter, her gaze on the floor, but said nothing.

"General, you might recall that on my medical record, it states that I am not allowed to have opioid painkillers." the words tasted like chalk in my mouth, "Do you know why this is?"

I saw the exact moment he put the pieces together, "No...Henry, you...?"

"Yes." I replied, "For two years, from the ages of fifteen to seventeen, I had an opioid addiction. It got so bad that I dropped out of high school, desperately chasing the high, taking near lethal doses just to feel normal. The withdrawal gave me crippling suicidal thoughts and made me sick to the point of vomiting even when I hadn't eaten anything in days. It took four weeks of this agonizing withdrawal in the hospital before I was able to stay clean. I haven't told anyone this story except for Charles and Ellie because I want that version of me to stay buried in the past forever, yet somehow, Dolche was able to figure out that that withdrawal is my greatest fear. He didn't give me much, not even enough for a full high, but I anticipated the withdrawal for what felt like days. It was like he had figured out how to manually activate the panic response in my brain by flipping a switch on my arm."

I rolled my sleeve up to show where the needle went in. It had been bothering me for awhile, but I still hadn't seen it since my rescue, and I gotta say, I wasn't prepared for what it would look like. Where there was once a small grey scar from my previous uses, there was now a massive scab that was covered in draining pus. Blood coated the inside of my hoodie's sleeve. I was astounded that it didn't hurt more.

"Mother of god!" Galeforce took my arm to inspect the healing wound, "Jesus Christ, Soldier! Why didn't you tell me about this sooner!?"

I found myself just as shocked as he was, "I...forgot about it. Too much else going on, I guess."

"Well, now we need to make sure you're detoxified of the drugs and that you don't have sepsis! Also, we need to test you for HIV!"

"What!? Oh, I didn't think of that..." I shuttered as Charles took my arm to inspect the wound, "But sir, don't you see? Dolche learned about me to make my torture _personalized._ If he's willing to get _heroin_ to torture someone, then what _else_ is he willing to do?"

The final cog in Galeforce's brain fell into place, and he cursed under his breath.

He exhaled into his hands, _"I'm going to regret this..."_ he straightened up again to address the three of us, "Fine. I will authorize the plan, but only under the condition that _you_ see a medic, get some food and water in you, and shower before you go!"

I saluted with my right hand, "Sir yes Sir!"

"Good. I will make the necessary arrangements. We leave in four hours. Don't be late!"

***

"Ow!"

"I need to clean the wound, Stickmin. Try to hold still."

The medic held my left arm, dabbing at the infected wound with antiseptic while Charles paced back and forth and Ellie leaned into my right side. I didn't have HIV thankfully, but the medic still insisted that I take a 72-hour treatment just in case. She also gave me some antibiotics for the infection before dressing my wound.

I had a flashback just then to when my Aunt Penny discovered my addiction. My sleeve rolled up enough that she saw the bandage on my arm. Suspicious, she asked me about it, and stupid 15-year-old me was so bad at lying that she pretty much figured it out on her own. She insisted that she had a look at the wound, and I fidgeted just as much back then as I did today. Aunt Penny was the only one who defended me when my family turned on me for being a failure.

I really didn't deserve her.

_No! You're not thinking like that anymore, Stickmin!_ I mentally slapped myself, _You_ do _deserve her! You were a child who was wronged, and she saw your pain and wanted to help! That makes_ her _a good person, not_ you _a bad one!_

When the wound was wrapped, I took my hoodie into my arms, "Okay, I've eaten, gotten fluids, seen a medic, now I just need a shower and Galeforce will let me go."

"I'll walk you, if you like." Ellie stood with me, "Charles, you go make sure the helicopter is ready for the mission."

Charles nodded, his worried gaze lingering on me before he left.

I walked a few paces behind Ellie as I looked at the blood all over my hoodie. Some of it was mine, but most of it was Lincoln's. I knew the sight of his body would haunt me for the rest of my life, even if he did end up surviving.

"Ellie?"

She paused in the hallway to turn towards me, "Mhm?"

I didn't look at her, "I'm sorry I couldn't protect Lincoln. I'm sorry he ended up so hurt."

"Dude, it's fine." she stroked my cheek, "You did your best. You literally dove out of the helicopter to save him, but it ended up going sour anyway. It's not your fault."

"I still feel bad, though." I felt the tears threaten to fall again, "Did you know he apologized for losing my phone? He literally almost fell into the freezing-cold Siberian ocean, and he felt bad that he grabbed the cliff instead of holding onto my phone."

"I know. He's a sweetheart. It wouldn't surprise me if he bought you a new one." Ellie put a hand on my back, "Now let's go. The dorms are right here."

The biggest shower section in the base was the gender-neutral one, which was full of walled-off stalls that had full doors and locks for each shower head. The male and female showers were just rooms with showerheads all along three walls with one drain in the middle, so nobody liked using those unless they _really_ wanted to be left alone. Or they had a death wish.

I watched Ellie enter the gender-neutral showers and usher me inside as I stopped by the door, "Are you gonna, like, wait outside for me?"

"I want to make sure you don't get hurt. We've seen each other naked anyway."

"I know, but...I still like my privacy."

"I won't look, okay? It's a 'just in case' kinda thing."

I was skeptical, but I understood her concern, so I headed inside with her. The showers were empty right now, probably because almost nobody was currently on base.

I entered the first shower room and locked the door. It had tiny gaps above and below, so I could still clearly hear everything outside as I began to undress. The door shifted slightly, so I knew Ellie was leaning up against it from the outside.

My pants caught a bruise on my hip as I tried to take them off, "Ow!"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." I could feel the sweat sticking to the fabric as I peeled them off my legs, "Just a little sore. Concrete, you know?"

She didn't answer. I hoped she wasn't thinking too hard about that.

Once I had gotten everything off, I gathered the clothing into one pile, "Hey, can you put my clothes in the washer?"

"Sure."

I slid the pile through the narrow gap under the door, and I briefly saw Ellie's hands as she picked them up. Her footsteps retreated, and then the washer opened and closed. Once the sound of the washer going filled the air, Ellie returned to her spot outside my door.

I turned the water on. It was cold, and it hit the bandage on my arm as I hissed.

"Henry?"

"I'm fine." I adjusted the temperature until it wasn't unbearably cold anymore, then I carefully stood under the running water, trying not to flinch as the bruises on my neck flared with pain. It wasn't terrible, I'd definitely been through worse, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.

"You got soap in there?"

"Yeah." I took the bottle and squeezed it into my hands, lathering up and rubbing it over my head. I could feel the crusted dirt and dried blood loosening up from my skin as I washed myself off, and it made me realize just how uncomfortable it had been making me all this time. I was feeling like a new man by the second.

"Henry?"

I stood under the water again to rinse off, "Yeah?"

Ellie tapped her boot on the ceramic tile, "Were you really put in extreme isolation?"

I let the water pour over my face, "Yeah..."

"God, I'm so sorry." Ellie's voice shook slightly, "I'm so sorry, Henry. You were dreading the withdrawal all alone in the dark. I can't even imagine what that was like."

I tried to tell her that it was fine. No big deal, really, but the words got stuck in my throat.

My tears mixed with the shower water, _"It was awful. I missed you so much. I felt like such an idiot for running away and getting myself into such a fucked up situation. I wanted to die just so the pain would stop."_

Ellie banged on the door, "Henry, please let me in."

As soon as I unlocked the door, Ellie burst in, still fully clothed, and barreled into me, her arms wrapped tightly around my waist as her face pressed into my chest. My back hit the wall behind me, and I held onto her like a lifeline as the water cascaded over both of us.

"It's okay, Henry." she said, "You're okay. You made it out. You're safe."

I cried into her hair as the water stuck it to her face, and to my arms.

"Oh, sorry, I know you said..."

"No, it's okay." I ran my hands down her back as the water made her shirt cling to her body, "I think I needed that. You'll need to change, though."

"Says who?"

"Says a certain general who wouldn't be pleased to hear that we made out in the showers when we're the ones who insisted on this mission."

"Careful, Henry." she smiled mischievously, "You're giving me ideas."

"Ellie, I really think that maybe I should get dressed at least before I- _gah!"_ I recoiled when she suddenly kissed my neck, _"Ellie!"_

"What?"

"You know _what!_ What if someone catches us!? The door is still open!"

She kicked the door closed with her heel, "Well, that just makes it more exciting, doesn't it?"

"Unbelievable."

"You love me."

"You're impossible."

"I'm aware."

I laughed, "Well, at least you admit it."

She stood on her tiptoes to kiss my lips. Unfortunately, it was a little uncomfortable for her to stay in sopping-wet clothes under the streaming shower head, so when she broke away, she left the shower to strip out of them and put them in the washer. When she came back, I let my eyes linger over her body for too long, and when she noticed, I quickly looked away.

Before she had a chance to tease me about it though, I reached for the bottle of shampoo on the shelf and squeezed a huge glob into my hands. Then, I rubbed my hands together and massaged the soap into her scalp. Whatever snarky comment she would have made died in her throat as she leaned back into my touch, the dirt in her hair dissolving into the suds. It had been a long time since we'd showered together, and this was making me wish we did it more often.

She closed her eyes as my hands moved from her bangs to the back of her neck, and I slowly leaned in to kiss her again, her hair between my fingers as I tilted her head to meet me.

_"Mmmmm..."_ she smiled against my lips, "Not bad, Henry. Real smooth."

I combed through her hair one last time before she stood under the water and rinsed the shampoo out. When the grime was washed away, it left behind the vibrancy of the red color in her hair that I hadn't noticed wasn't there before. She squeezed the water out of it, and it fell in waves around her face. It shone under the overhead light.

My smile turned shy. She looked ethereal.

"Aw, look at you." she squished my cheeks together, "See? If you had killed yourself, you would have missed out on this!"

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" I hugged her again, relishing in the feeling of her soft skin against my body.

She reached behind me for the body wash, and proceeded to scrub the grime off the rest of her body. When I grinned and said, "Need any help?" she stuck her tongue out at me.

Eventually, she noticed the healing cuts and bruises all over my body, and she began to kiss them one by one, from my hands and arms to my chest, my back, my shoulders, my head...I felt like I was in heaven. Her lips were so soft, and she held me so gently.

Once we were both sufficiently slick with soap, Ellie started messing with her hair again, and I got to thinking. We still had plenty of hot water left, it was fine if we stayed a little longer.

"Yunno, Ellie, I've been wondering..." I wrapped my arms around her waist from behind, my cheek against her temple, "What did you do with that money you stole from that scam?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy?"

"Ellie..."

"Fine, fine. I donated it all to a charity for victims of pyramid schemes."

"Whoa." I stepped back, and she crossed her arms as she turned back towards me, "For real?"

"Well, I kept a _little_ for myself..."

"Naturally."

"I made it on the news, too. 'Burglar Steals Thousands And Returns It To Victims'. Pretty cool, huh? Hopefully it'll force the federal government to get off its ass and start investigating these illegal _'businesses'."_

"How long have you been doing stuff like that?"

"Not long. I've only pulled it off twice so far." she pushed me into the wall again, her arms over my chest, "But that reminds me! Felix White got back to us about that lawsuit you filed! Charles and I got all the money!"

"Sweet!" I tucked her hair back off her face, a little weak in the knees, "You know...you guys can keep it. I'll manage."

"What? Not a chance. It was like five thousand dollars you earned. You need to keep it. It's not ours." she rose an eyebrow at me, "Did you give it to us because you planned on dying?"

My silence was confirmation enough.

"Aw. Henry." she kissed me again, her lips lingering on my cheek, "I'm sorry we didn't see it sooner. I'm sorry you felt so alone."

"It's okay, Ellie. It wasn't your fault." her soft voice and gentle touches made me dizzy, _"You know...I imagined you were there with me when I was alone in my cell. I wanted you and Charles to be in my thoughts when I died."_

"Shush. Don't talk like that. You're not dying today or tomorrow. Hopefully, you won't die for a long, long time. Do you hear me? If you won't live for yourself, then live for me."

I couldn't answer. She had kissed me again, pushing against me with her chest hard enough to hinder my breathing against the tile wall. It was a sign that she wouldn't accept any counter argument I could think of. Whether I liked it or not, I was going to stay alive. Ellie was going to make sure of that, and if I know one thing, it's that you don't argue with Ellie.

She wouldn't have to worry, though. If I could have even a small chance of more moments like this, staying alive would be well worth it.

I started to laugh against her lips, and she laughed along with me as our soapy feet struggled for purchase on the wet floor.

***


	16. Chapter 16

Charles took one look at me and Ellie, both in clothes still warm from the dryer, smelling all fresh and clean, and he rolled his eyes, "So...what did you guys do today?"

"Nothing." I said automatically.

"Henry and I made out in the showers."

"Ellie!"

"What? It's true."

Charles threw his head back to laugh, "Oh, I see how it is. Leaving me out again, ey?"

I silenced him with a kiss, sudden enough that he lost his balance and I had to hold him up. I felt him tremble against me until I broke away. He had no more complaints after that. Ha.

As Charles started up the helicopter and brought it up into the air, the sun began to set, and the mood grew increasingly somber. I shuffled my feet anxiously in the cargo bay, pacing back and forth between the doors.

"Henry."

I stopped.

"You're doing the thing again."

I turned towards Ellie once I processed that she was the one who had addressed me, "What thing?"

"You're thinking too hard again, aren't you?"

I dug the heels of my palms into my eyes, "No, just nerves."

She stood up to join me by the windshield just inside the cockpit, where Charles' gaze was fixed firmly on the horizon.

"I remember when I saw you for the first time..." Ellie began, "You had this look on your face. Your eyes darted back and forth between Grigori and your bound hands. I could practically hear the gears turning as you planned your escape."

"Yeah. I remember that." I looked outside as the western coastline came into view, "I was thinking about Charles back then. I knew he was probably worried about me, and after the violent way I was kidnapped, I was feeling pretty impatient. Looking back, I should have let you boost me up to the vent so we could escape together, but the idea didn't even cross my mind at the time. Not soon enough to actually do it, anyway."

"Hey, that reminds me." Ellie hit my back, "You've never told me the story of when you unofficially met Charles. We've got time to kill, right?"

I looked away as my face heated up.

"Oh yeah, I was just finished with strength training the day we unofficially met." Charles seemed relieved for the topic change, "As soon as I opened my mouth to say hello though, he ran away. I figured he was just anxious, but now I think it was a trauma response."

Ellie tried to catch my eye, and I turned further away.

"Henry..." Ellie snapped her fingers, "What's up? You don't seem the type to run from a complete stranger because of trauma..."

I was going to have to say it, huh?

I sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you, but please don't make fun of me."

Charles' face twisted into one of concern, and he switched the autopilot on, "Henry?"

"Really, it's fine...just embarrassing." I rubbed my arms, "See...the real reason I ran was because I found you...really... _stupidly..."_ my blush deepened with every word, "... _attractive..."_

Charles' eyes widened, his face turning completely red, "Wh-what...?"

"Dude, you were shirtless!" I tried to justify. I'm still not sure how successful I was, "You were sweaty from working out, and I could see your muscles!"

Charles was somewhat muscular, with broad shoulders and big arms, but he also had a soft, pudgy stomach. I remember it clear as day; I took one look at him and felt my heart slam against my ribcage like it was trying to escape.

Just thinking about that day again was making me melt.

Charles stood from the chair, steadying the autopilot before approaching me, "You really think I'm attractive?"

He looked so hopeful. So...happy.

I covered my face, "Y-yeah. I'm relieved I usually only see you fully clothed most of the time, because not only are you super, like, boyishly handsome, you're also...really hot. I was struggling with my identity back then, and only barely coming to terms with the fact that I'm bisexual, and so suddenly seeing such an attractive man out of the blue really made me spiral in a way. It scared me." I pulled my hood up over my head, "God, I sound so stupid. I'm fine with it now, but it's still embarrassing looking back and being so mesmerized by you."

My heart was going a mile a minute now as I looked away, wondering just how Charles was taking the news.

I finally risked a glance at him. He had that huge smile on his face that I loved so much.

"Henry..." Charles flapped his hands, jumping up and down as he giggled like a schoolgirl, "Ah! Henry! That was the first time I'd ever worked out shirtless! I'd gotten my top surgery like a year ago, and Rupert convinced me to go out like that, and I was feeling really brave, and now I find out you thought I was attractive!"

"Whoa whoa! Hold on a second!" I took his hands out of the air, "For real?"

"Yeah! My confidence was through the roof that day, and now..." he relaxed a bit, "Actually, after my cybernetic surgery, I lost the scars on my chest for the most part, but I still don't regret it for a second! Henry, you have no idea how happy you've made me!"

He hugged me, and my chest grew warm and fuzzy as I returned it.

"You found me attractive too, right?"

Ellie was grinning at me from ear to ear.

I broke away from Charles to answer her, "When you hit Petrov with that stop sign?" I made the OK sign with my hand, "Yeah, that was the hottest thing I've ever seen a woman do."

She gave an approving nod, "Sweet."

Charles caught the view outside and hurried back to his chair, "Okay, we're about to enter Russian airspace. You guys should probably buckle up."

_"Air traffic control, please identify yourself."_

Charles checked the map on the dash, one hand on his headset, "Charles Calvin of the US Special Covert Ops."

I buckled into the copilot seat as Ellie hurried to the cargo bay, Charles speaking to Russian air traffic control over his headset.

_"You are not welcome here, pilot."_

"I already called ahead. They said it was okay."

_"Who cleared you?"_

"Uh, General Hubert Galeforce of the US government."

There was silence on the other end. Charles slowed our path while he waited for a response.

Finally, the voice returned, _"All cleared. Don't mess this up."_

"I won't." he switched it off, turning on his radar and cautiously flying us in, "Okay, Henry. _Please_ be careful. If you fall into Dolche's hands again, it'll all be over."

I put a hand on his arm, "I swear. I'll be as careful with my life as I would be with yours."

He smiled and nodded, "That's good to hear. Now get ready."

I fitted my earpiece to my ear before unbuckling myself from the copilot seat and heading back to the cargo bay, where Ellie was leaning on the wall, parachute in hand.

"Hey." I took the pack from her, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine." she shouldered a different parachute, "I guess...I don't want to get caught...again..."

Ouch. I gently placed a kiss on her forehead, "I'm sorry, Ellie. You know I'll protect you. If you're caught, I'm coming after you. If Dolche dares to harm one hair on your head, I'll turn him inside out."

She hugged me, "I know. We'll look out for each other, okay?"

"Yeah." I spun her in a circle, "You know...if I had known how much of a badass you were when I saw you in that holding cell, I would have gotten you out one way or another."

"Same. We do make a pretty great team, huh?"

_"Check check, Charles to Henry."_

I jumped, but quickly responded, "Henry to Charles. Can you hear me okay?"

_"I sure can! Can you hear me, Ellie?"_

"Loud and clear, Charles."

_"Awesome! Okay, we drop in five minutes. Be ready by then."_

We had our backpacks on and were gazing out over the freezing tundra of the vast Siberian wilderness through the open door by the time the five minutes was up. I took Ellie's hand, and she squeezed it.

_"Five...four...three...two...one."_ Charles slowed the vehicle's path, _"Standby for drop off. Good luck."_

We nodded towards each other, then we jumped, falling through the sky as I tried to imagine we were floating through the void, skydiving for fun rather than on our way to certain doom.

I closed my eyes. It felt good.

When we were close enough to see the trees through the blizzard, we activated our parachutes, and our descent slowed until we gently drifted to the ground. I didn't quite reach it, as the cloth got stuck in the trees and left me dangling, so Ellie helped me out of it once she'd landed. We didn't move for awhile. Didn't speak. Eventually though, we headed towards the complex. I recognized this area from my first time through, so my brain switched to autopilot as I led Ellie through the snow-covered forest.

Ellie took my hand, breaking me from my reverie, "Henry?"

The harsh wind picked up, and she huddled closer to me.

I asked if she was too cold.

"Henry, what are you thinking about?"

I didn't answer. I tried to ignore it, but I should've known Ellie wouldn't take the hint.

"Henry."

"I'm not thinking about anything." I snapped, "My head is empty. There's nothing. I can't think, or I'll lose my mind."

I hadn't meant to come off so rude. I was just afraid i would cry again. She didn't seem offended, though.

"If you're holding all your emotions in..." she tugged on my arm to get me to stop walking, "...then you're just going to explode later."

I sighed heavily, squeezing my temples between my thumb and middle finger.

"I'm fine." I said finally, "Just...bracing for impact. You know. My default state."

When she didn't respond, I kept walking, gently tugging her arm along with me.

_"Henry? If something's wrong, you can let us know. I won't take you out of the mission unless I think your life is in danger."_

Charles. I forgot he could track our earpieces. He must have noticed our pace.

I hit the talk button on my earpiece, "I'm fine, Charles. Just a little shaken, I guess."

_"I can understand that. You've been through a lot lately, huh? Still, if it is something, I'd rather know about it now."_

"No, it's fine. Maybe I just feel like it's too quiet."

_"I'll keep an eye out for enemy soldiers. If worse comes to worse though, you know I can just pick you up."_

I thanked him, switching off the mic and trekking through the increasingly huge piles of snow, caked over packed ice that made us slip multiple times. Ellie still didn't let go of my hand, though, even when me tripping almost brought her to the ground. She would just grab a tree for balance and yank me to my feet before I could crack a tooth on the ice. I don't know why I slipped so much more often than her. Maybe I was just distracted.

Finally, we made it to the complex. We hid among the bushes to servey the situation we were about to become entangled in. The first thing I noticed were the flashlight beams. They swept back and forth between the broken windows on every floor. There weren't many guards outside the building, but the clouds creating fog coupled with the swinging flashlight beams made something pang behind my eyes. This was going to be a _huge_ headache.

_"Looks like you guys made it! As you can see, I can't get close without raising the alarm, so I'd better stay back so they don't detect me."_

"No worries. We can make it in from here, right Henry?"

I nodded, "Charles, you'd better actually keep your distance this time."

_"Haha! Don't worry, Hen, I've learned my lesson! I can't promise I won't use my weapons, though!"_

I could live with that. Sweeping my gaze over the complex from roof to dock, I placed a hand on my chin as I thought about how we could get inside without getting killed. My first instinct was stealth. It always was. I snuck into the bank, I snuck out of prison, and I snuck into the Tunisian Archeological exhibit. However, when lives were on the line, sometimes even including my own, I tended to get reckless. One example was obviously my charge-tackle against Grigori the day Ellie and I had unofficially met, but there were many other instances. This was the eye of the storm. If I didn't think of a good plan now that I could stick to later, I was sure my actions would be regrettable at best, and...well, deadly at worst.

"Henry?"

"Right, sorry." I hit the sides of my head with my fists, "Just thinking."

"I can tell. Any ideas?"

"Not at the moment."

"Well, we can't sit here all day. I have a plan, if you wanna hear that."

I nodded slowly, "Okay. Let's hear it."

"Okay." she hit her earpiece, "Charles, I have a plan. Henry and I are going to separate so we can cause two different controlled demolitions on opposite sides of the building that will act as a distraction so we can get inside undetected. I'm gonna need you to launch a flare at the same time in a place further away, close enough that they think it's a normal explosion. I'm sure they'll catch on that it was a distraction, but hopefully by then, we'll be able to enact Henry's plan that he explained earlier today."

_"Okay! Not a bad idea! Although, they might be expecting you."_ we could hear Charles fiddling with the zipper on his jacket, a sure sign that he was nervous, _"If they launch a counterattack, there isn't much I can do to help you from out here, and I really don't like the idea of you two being separated."_

"I know, but I don't have a lot of ideas, and all of them might end up going sour. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears."

Charles was quiet. He switched the mic on his headset off, presumably while he thought about the plan.

Finally, he came back, _"Okay. If things go bad for you, meet me in the woods where you are right now and I'll pick you up. Otherwise, I'll try to keep their attention off of you while you get inside. I've got plenty of flares, it should be fine."_

"Good. Let us know if you need to fall back." Ellie braced herself underneath one of the tall conifers along the path, "You ready, Henry? You okay with the plan?"

"Uh, yeah, but where am I going?"

"Oh, right." Ellie pointed to the back entrance beside the dock, "I'll go in through there, where they have those boxes. You'll go through the side door. It'll lead to the hallway to the internal staircase. Try to shoot something explosive long-ranged so you won't get any attention on you. If something goes bad, let me know immediately, and I'll try to help you out. Once you've caused the distraction, we'll meet in the middle. Got it?"

I did.

"Awesome. Okay. Ready?"

I shot her a thumbs up.

"Okay. Three...two...one..."

We both bolted, Ellie heading towards the docks while I circled around the cliffs to the side door. I yanked it open, using the fog as cover before I clicked open a missile launcher from my belt and fired over my shoulder before slamming the door shut. My track record with missiles wasn't great, but miraculously, the missile flew far away before exploding in a huge ball of red light that cut through the fog like a firework.

_"We're under attack! Fire all weapons!"_

I heard heavy footsteps around the corner, so I shut myself in a closet until the footsteps faded. Once I was back in the hallway, I hurried towards the center of the floor, praying that Ellie had made it out okay.

I saw the metal bat before I felt it.

***


	17. Chapter 17

_Shit!_

My arms instinctively flew up to shield my head from the bat, and it connected with my left forearm, sending sharp pain through it that made me cry out.

"Henry!" Ellie hit the attacker with a crowbar, "Are you okay!?"

_"Are you guys in trouble!? Don't worry! Liam's on his way! I'll send in reinforcements!"_

I gazed at all the guns pointed towards us. There was no way out, as they surrounded us on all sides. Ellie stood back-to-back with me, trembling as she held the crowbar up in a shaky grip.

I got an idea, a slow smile spreading across my face as I activated the earpiece, "That won't be necessary. Continue with the plan."

"What!?" Ellie exclaimed, "Henry, what are you doing!?"

I faced her, my arm extended, palm-up, "Ellie, we can still take 'em! _Fuse with me!"_

She dropped the crowbar, and it clattered to the concrete floor as the guns around us lowered in shock. I could tell, part of her wanted to say no.

Eventually though, she took my hand, "Okay! I trust you!"

I knew she was capable of fusion, but we had never tried it together before. Standing side by side, we bent towards each other, our hands connecting in the air like some kind of elaborate handshake. She twisted me around, dipping me so I was looking up into her face, one hand on my back to hold me up with the other still holding my hand. In a bright flash of light, we came together, and my consciousness began to fade...

When the fusion's eyes opened, they noticed that the rest of the world seemed so much smaller. They were twice as tall as the average person, their head scraping the ceiling, with a red mohawk and thick eyelashes. They wore something between a blue hoodie and a striped red and black shirt, jeans split haphazardly between blue and black, with one black sneaker and one blue combat boot.

_This is me? No, this is us. No, me. Henry and Ellie. Both of them. Both of us._

_"Guys!? You broke up for a second! What's going on!?"_

The fusion reached for the earpiece in their ear, which now had two microphones, "Charles, it's... _me."_

Their voice was jarring even to them. It sounded simultaneously like a man's voice and a woman's voice, but it didn't sound like two separate distinct voices. It was still one unified voice, though it did sound a bit fragmented.

_"Guys? You okay? What...?"_

"It's still us. Me." they replied, "Henry and Ellie."

_"Whoa! No way! You guys fused!? Cool! You're like...Ellry!"_

Ellry. They liked the sound of that.

"Hey!"

In the confusion, nobody was attacking or retreating. They all simply stood by while Ellry came to grips with themself. The one who had spoken was none other than Andrei Warzow. Seeing him almost made Ellry unfuse as Henry's shock and anger flared, but they forced themself to stay together. They knew they were stronger together than apart.

"Who do you think you are?" Warzow pointed his pistol at them, "Filthy fusion!"

He fired, but Ellry waved their arm, knocking the bullet aside with a well-placed force-push. More bullets were fired, but Ellry created a force field around themself that deflected them as they pushed through the crowd and up the stairs. Though they could protect themself, they knew they were extremely fragile in this state. One well-placed hit could cause them to unfuse, so they knew they had to be careful.

Ellry stopped in the cafeteria, pulling the fire alarm as another flare sounded outside. They zapped themself up the stairs as soldiers poured out in droves, focusing too much on deflecting bullets and not enough on where they were going-!

A fist came out of the darkness, and Ellry went flying, hitting the wall as one but the floor as two.

My back hit the floor as my thoughts sharpened once again, "Ellie!"

She had taken the brunt of the attack. She cradled her head as she sat up, and I hastily took her into my arms as I looked around for the attacker.

"Not much of a fusion, ey?"

I realized that I recognized him, but not from the complex this time. Blond hair. Blue suit jacket and trousers. A subtle Swedish accent. He pointed a gun at my head, looking down at me through thin blond eyelashes.

I glared at him, my breath catching in my throat, "Svensson."

"I'm glad you recognize me after the stunt you pulled." he scoffed, "What's with that look? Did you think you'd never see me again? Idiot."

Ellie squeezed my hand, "Henry, come on. Let's fuse again. We can take him."

"That won't be necessary." he pressed his gun to my forehead, "Any last words, Stickmin?"

_"Guys? Are you in trouble? If you're in trouble say 'flanksteak'! No no wait! If you're in trouble say nothing!"_

"Really? Nothing?" Svensson lowered the weapon slightly, but still kept it trained on me, "I would have thought you'd have something to say to me after everything you did. You killed the old leaders, which of course made me leader, but what's the point in being the leader of a broken..."

_"Ugh! I still can't tell!"_

Ellie and I made eye contact. Her hand was on the gun at her belt, but she wasn't sure if shooting Sven would cause more problems, considering the building was still teeming with guards, and while Sven was distracted, we didn't know if something minor would snap him out of it.

_"Guys!? You're freaking me out here! Do you need help or not!? Do you need to stay quiet!? Oh boy oh boy oh boy!"_

I touched Ellie's shoulder, silently mouthing, _"Fuse with me."_ and she frowned in determination as she took my hand.

"...so I had to go through _mountains_ of paperwork, and then of course it didn't matt-AH!"

Ellry twisted Svensson's arm behind his back before pinning him to the ground, the gun flying from his grip and landing some distance away.

"Ah. There I go again." Svensson struggled against Ellry's superhuman strength, "Just get it over with already."

Ellry reached up with their right hand, "I'm fine, Charles. Just a bit of a hiccup in the plan."

_"Okay, good. Don't scare me like that!"_

"Sorry." Ellry brought their fist up and slammed it into Svensson's head, knocking him out. They did consider killing him, but they really weren't out for blood, and they didn't want to gain a bloodthirsty reputation. If more people could be arrested rather than killed, that would be ideal.

Besides; Neither Henry nor Ellie really had it out for Sven. He could be spared, at least for now.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!"

Ellry looked up, their blue and red eyes landing on deep grey ones. Dolche was led by the rest of the fleet, including Speck, Wagner, and Halberd. All of them set something off in Ellry, which confused them at first. They couldn't fully explain everything they were feeling, but they reassured themself that they could keep themself safe.

As if right on cue, Dolche fired his pistol, and Ellry caught the bullet out of the air.

They spoke in their semi-fragmented voice, "Dolche."

"I thought you might recognize me, freak." Dolche sheathed his gun, "At least part of you knows who I am."

Svensson was being carried away by someone in the background, from the lower floors to the upper ones. Ellry crushed the bullet they were holding in their hand, blowing the dust through the air off their palm.

"Do you know why I'm here, Dolche?"

Dolche sighed as if he was about to berate a naughty child, "I assume it has something to do with Henry wanting revenge, or whatever. He's in there somewhere, I'm sure."

_"Ellry, be careful."_ Charles' voice had lowered from where it was before, _"I think he has a trick up his sleeve."_

Ellry took a step back. They were ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"I really thought you were better than that." Dolche continued, his hands casually in his pants' pockets, "Fusion is a cheap tactic, you know. Not everyone can do it, and it makes fights unfair."

Ellry drew a gun from their hip, quickly checking it for bullets, "Look, I'm not here to argue the logistics of fusion. I'm here for you."

They fired the gun, but Dolche deflected it with a metal shield, "Please. Did you think I would make this easy or something?"

Ellry's heart began to beat faster. Their left hand came up to touch their chest. No, they had _two_ hearts. One of them was beating faster, and the other was struggling to keep up. It wasn't even as if one was Ellie's heart and the other was Henry's; This particular fusion just so happened to have a double heart.

Although, based on which one was reacting badly to Dolche, they could guess which one held more of Henry at the moment, and which held more of Ellie.

"You've never fused before, have you?" Dolche smiled, and it made Ellry's arms shake, "Or should I say...you've never _existed_ before? You're new."

"What's it to you?"

He wasn't nearly as tall as Ellry, but he carried the confidence of a giant, "You're inexperienced. I bet I could get you to unfuse with a simple phrase."

_"Ellry, I really think you should run. I don't like what he's doing."_

Ellry did want to run, but they didn't want to leave this as it was. If they didn't kill Dolche now, who knows when they would get another chance?

They didn't like the thought, even as it crossed their mind.

Dolche lifted a dart gun, "Listen to your pilot friend, freak. _We know his fear."_

The phrase didn't actually mean anything, but it didn't matter. Ellry separated violently, dropping the gun as their hearts desynchronized.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM CHARLES!" I screamed, lunging for him.

"HENRY, NO!"

I felt Dolche's gun against my chest, and that's when I realized what had happened. We couldn't stay fused, because our states of mind had changed. I was no longer part of Ellry, I was just me.

Dolche chuckled low under his breath, "I cannot _believe_ that actually worked. Maybe I'll kill your little friends before I kill you."

I looked up to see Ellie being restrained, a gun pressed to the underside of her chin.

The situation caught up to me.

I had failed.

"No..." tears gathered in my eyes, _"No...no, no, no..."_

_"Guys, are you okay!? Do you need help!?"_

I shakily reached for my earpiece, "Ch-Charles...I'm sorry...I need you to fall back..."

Charles didn't respond. I knew better than to assume he would listen to me. In fact, his silence was a sure sign that he would do the exact opposite of fall back.

Still, I paid it no mind. There wasn't much he could do from the outside.

"You're giving up? Just like that?" Dolche laughed cruelly, his gun pressing more firmly into my ribs, "Have I really broken you so much!? This is rich! Goodness, I don't want to kill you now! You truly are a fascinating person, Henry Stickmin!"

Giving up? That's how he saw it? As if there was still something I could do. That was laughable.

_"Don't worry, Henry. I got the perfect plan."_

Charles' voice had come back. Apparently, he had a plan. That wasn't a good sign.

"Charles, I swear, if you crash your helicop-!"

The window at the end of the hallway exploded in a firey red light. Ellie took advantage of the distraction to throw her head back into the nose of her captor, bolting towards me as soon as she was free, and I sprinted for her once Dolche's eyes were off me.

"HEY, STOP THEM! DON'T LET THEM FUSE-!"

Her hand clasped in mine.

Through the light, a long leg tripped Dolche before he made it back to them. Ellry picked him up by the shirt collar, scrutinizing him like an unwanted pest before throwing him against the wall. More bullets rained down on them as even more soldiers filled the hallway.

_"Ellry, I'm coming! Get in!"_

Ellry jumped out of the destroyed window, and Charles tilted the helicopter to let them slide in easily, extra height and all.

They had to duck to stay inside as they looked out through the cargo bay door, seeing the building now filling up with reinforcements from both sides.

"Whoa! They're really prepared this time, aren't they!? Nice thinking on the fusion, by the way! Shoulda thoughta that sooner!"

Ellry called into the cockpit, "Where are you taking me?"

"Around the building! Element of surprise, baby!"

Charles fired another missile from his helicopter, and it landed in the huge cafeteria window. Ellry jumped through the smouldering remains, glass crunching under their feet. The floor was mostly empty, but only because it was such a large room. It was actually full of more soldiers than the hallway had been.

"Where's Dolche!?" Ellry punched their open palm. It caught everyone's attention.

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Speck shot Ellry, but they caught the bullet.

"My name is Ellry." Ellry responded smoothly, "And don't talk to me like that."

They flicked the bullet towards Speck, and it landed on his forehead, knocking his head back a considerable amount.

_"OW!"_ he clutched his forehead, _"You son of a bitch!"_

Someone shouted, "Stop them! Stop that fusion!"

"No need, fellas." a newcomer appeared from the crowd of soldiers, "I'll take care of this."

Despite not being a fusion, he was just as tall as Ellry, with a huge chest and big arms. He wore a deep blue suit with gold accents, which even included a gold dress shirt. Ellry recognized him, too. It was a guy called Kabbitz. What was with these Toppats going undercover as complex goons!?

Ellry grew slightly irritated, their hearts beating as one, "Who are you?"

"That is none of your concern, _fusion."_ Kabbitz cracked his knuckles, "You think just because you're fused, you're a match for me? Don't make me laugh!"

Ellry glowered, but internally, they shook with fear. Though they were tall, they were also somewhat scrawny, at least compared to the hulking giant in front of them. Regular people who were stronger than fusions were rare, but they did exist, and with their luck, Ellry was sure they wouldn't get out of this alive.

Well, with two sets of thought processes working as one, they knew they would be able to hatch a plan.

Kabbitz lunged for Ellry, and they sidestepped, kicking the nearest complex soldier like a soccer ball into another group of soldiers, who all crumpled into a pile like bowling pins.

"You're just going to run like a coward!?" Kabbitz laughed like a maniac as he ran after them.

"What's the matter? Am I too fast for ya!?" Ellry stood with their back to the wall, bracing against it until Kabbitz was upon them.

They dodged at the last second, forcing Kabbitz's fist to break through the wall; The wall that was made of solid concrete. Ellry felt a chill down their spine. That could have been their _head._

Kabbitz freed his arm, and Ellry jerked themself out of it. Now wasn't the time to freeze up! They dodged the next few attacks too, quickly scanning the crowd for the people they were looking for.

Will Speck was first. Ellry scooped him up and slammed him into the ground, putting a bullet through his head. One down.

"Get back here!" Kabbitz grabbed them in a chokehold, and they quickly zapped out of it before they had a chance to be crushed.

"Catch me if you can!" Ellry stuck their tongue out, zapping behind Kabbitz as he lunged again, and he stumbled over the piles of soldiers still clambering over each other, trying to find their weapons.

Andrei Warzow was next. Ellry kicked him in the gut before he had a chance to shoot them again, picking him up and jamming their knee into his neck to break it. Two.

"Stop it!" Kabbitz was quickly growing angry, "Stop moving around so much!"

_"Ellry! Be careful!"_ Charles created more explosions outside, _"I can hold off their reinforcements, but that guy's power level is over nine! One hit could break your skull!"_

"Yeah! I'm aware!" Ellry dodged another attack, sweeping Kabbitz's legs to trip him again.

_"QUIT IT!"_

Willie Wagner had completely emptied his sniper rifle by the time Ellry made it to him. They bent the barrel of the gun backwards with their raw strength, and Wagner paled, letting go and bolting for the hole in the wall. If he didn't die when he hit the ground, he at the very least wouldn't be giving them trouble anymore.

That was three. Only two left to go.

Ryan Halberd was frantically scrambling for his weapons, gathering up the soldiers to try and gang up on Ellry. When he was cornered, he slammed his foot into the floor, creating a wall of stone that acted as cover. Earthbending. Ellry tried to break through it, but it held firm.

_"Shout!"_ Charles' helicopter could be heard outside as it hovered closer, _"Yell at them, Ellry!"_

Ellry smiled behind the wall of bent concrete, inhaling the biggest breath they could muster.

"Ra do _**FUS!"**_

The concrete barricade flew backwards into Halberd, crushing him between the loose block and the wall.

Just one left.

"That's it! This ends here!" Dolche grabbed a parachute on his way outside, "You want me, fusion!? COME AND GET ME!"

He jumped, and Ellry didn't hesitate to follow. They ran down the side of the building while Dolche glided to the ground, bolting for his tank and shutting himself inside it.

Ellry landed in the snow, the ice cracking beneath them.

_Get ready..._

Ellry swallowed, their hearts pounding on the back of their eyes. They stood up straight, easily holding themself up to nine feet tall, slightly taller than the tank Dolche had bunkered in.

_Get ready..._

The tank powered up. If Ellry tried to rush it, they were sure to die, or unfuse and then die. Neither they could afford. They struggled to breathe.

_Get ready..._

They considered shouting again. Dolche must have been thinking the same thing though, because whenever they got close enough to make a difference, Dolche would back away, or drive the tank sideways.

_Get ready..._

Ellry tried to focus. They were afraid. This could easily go wrong for them, and they couldn't even call Charles for help unless they wanted him to get caught in the crossfire. No! Focus!

_Get ready..._

_Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up don't screw this up don't screw this up don't screw this up!_

_Get ready-!_

_**BAM!** _

Ellry caught the cannonball that fired from the tank, sliding backwards in the snow as their hands burned from the heat of the gun, their legs struggling with the effort of stopping it in its tracks. Holding the cannonball over their head, they threw it directly into the tank, crumpling it so Dolche was trapped inside.

Ellry tore the tank open, fishing Dolche from it kicking and screaming.

"There you go." Ellry pulled a gun, "I hope killing Lincoln was worth it."

_Bang!_

For a moment, they just stared. Dolche's grey eyes glazed over, the bloodstain beneath his chest melting the snow as it slowly spread across the ground.

Then, they remembered Kabbitz.

They remembered him too late.

Before I knew it, I was on the ground. As soon as I regained my bearings, I heard a gunshot, and Charles' helicopter appeared overhead. He had the windshield rolled down, pointing a sniper rifle out towards where Kabbitz lay on the ground.

"Ellie!?" I gasped for air, "Ellie, where are you!?"

My ears were ringing as I forced myself to my feet. I wasn't seeing through Ellry's eyes anymore, I knew that much, so Ellie had to be around here somewhere.

"ELLIE!"

I couldn't lose her now. Not now. Not after all this time. Not after all this work.

That's when I looked at Kabbitz's body again. There was a shock of red crushed underneath his shoulder.

"Ellie. No." I was so much smaller alone. I tried to push him off, "Ellie. Ellie, please be okay. Please."

He was too heavy, and my feet were slipping on the ice. I sank into the packed snow up to my knees, but he still wouldn't budge.

"Please. _Please."_

Suddenly, the workload became lighter. Charles had landed his helicopter and was helping me push the huge man off of Ellie. Then, it got even lighter. Liam was helping, too.

It took twelve soldiers and a lot of strength to roll him over. As soon as he was off, I dug Ellie out of the snow, and she took a huge breath of air as soon as she was upright.

"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!?" I cradled her face, "Nothing broken!?"

"Henry, I'm fine." she wrapped her arms around my neck, "It's okay. It's over."

Charles knelt beside us, but didn't speak.

"Why did we unfuse?" I asked her, "Did something happen? Please, tell me if I screwed up."

"Oh my god, Henry! No!" she shook my shoulders, "You idiot! Stop assuming you did something wrong! I unfused because I was afraid you'd get hurt!"

I could feel my lip quivering. Ellie's expression softened, and she slowly kissed my lips.

"Why?" I didn't open my eyes, "Why did you fall for me, Ellie? You could have _anyone._ Why choose _me?"_

"Henry, be quiet! Shut up! I don't _want_ anyone else! I want _nobody_ except you and Charles! I hate it when you do this!"

I blinked, my tears melting the snow, "But Ellie, why!?"

"Because I love you!"

"Why do you love me!?"

"BECAUSE YOU MADE ME LAUGH!"

I was struck dumb by her tone. Her face was covered in tears.

She wiped them away, "Henry...when we first met, I had been completely alone for eleven days. Seeing another friendly face would have been incredible on its own, but even though you were grieving yourself, you went out of your way to cheer me up. Remember that game we would play where we tried to make the other laugh? I didn't even care that I lost most of the time. I didn't think I'd ever laugh again after what I went through, but you absolutely split my sides!"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

"I really, _really hate it_ when you do this. _Please,_ Henry. I felt it every time we fused. I _hate_ the way you hate yourself. I wish you could see yourself from my perspective. I love you so much, it really hurts to feel that from you."

My legs were numb from kneeling in the snow. Her hands snaked around me so she was holding my hips, laying her head on my shoulder. I slowly wrapped my arms around her shoulders, shuttering from the cold touch of her hands that found their way underneath the hem of my hoodie.

"I can't help it." I finally choked out, "I've hated myself for so long that I don't know how to stop, except to die."

At the word "die", Ellie's grip on me tightened.

She kissed my neck, "I fell hard and fast for you, Henry. You're mine. Do you hear me? You're mine!"

"E-Ellie..."

"Fuse with me again." she pulled back to look into my eyes, "Maybe this time, I can get those feelings through to you. I love you so much, Henry. I _love_ you."

The tears spilled over again, and I leaned in towards her, _"I love you too, Ellie."_

I kissed her, allowing the light to take me once again.

Ellry was hugging themself when they emerged. They felt the difference pretty much instantly. They had a lot of feelings rolling around in their stomach, their two hearts beating steadily out of sync. The soldiers had cleared out, aside from Charles, probably to give them space, and their gaze landed on Kabbitz's body.

"Whoa."

Charles was staring up at them with stars in his eyes.

Ellry laughed, "You like whatcha see?"

Charles scrambled to his feet, a fierce blush taking over his face, "I-I mean...yeah? You're...really handsome, but also really beautiful? You're... _gorgeous!"_

"Thank you." when Ellry was kneeling down, they were the same height as Charles standing straight up, "You look even cuter when you're so small."

"Ah! Um...th-thank you? Uhh...hey, it's, uh, still you guys in there, right? Henry and Ellie?"

"Yeah. It's them, and it's me." Ellry took Charles' hand, which was pretty small in theirs, but not overly so, "There's something else going on. Something exists in me that doesn't exist when Henry and Ellie are separate, but everything that makes me who I am comes from them. It's a bit difficult to describe. Can you fuse?"

"Uh, no. I've never been able to."

"I see. Pity."

Ellry focused on the feeling of loving themself. They closed their eyes as the feeling intensified, then they began to laugh.

"Ah! It feels so good to be me!"

Charles cleared his throat, "Um...if this isn't too forward of me...d'you think I could kiss you?"

Ellry's hearts fluttered one at a time, "Of course! You don't need to ask!"

Charles was so small compared to the fusion that he could only barely wrap his arms around their torso. Regardless, he took their head in his hands, which was much bigger than a normal person's head, and tilted his own to meet their lips.

All that existed was them.

It was perfect.

***


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if my math is, like, terrible. I suck at math.

It was close to the 24 hour mark.

I watched Lincoln's chest slowly rise and fall, Ellie's tears falling onto his arm as she held his hand. Vinschpinsilstien glanced at the clock. Charles' hand rested on my shoulder.

He still hadn't woken up.

Vinschpinsilstien reached for the cable connecting him to the life support.

"No! Not yet!" Ellie snatched her hand away, "Not yet. Let's wait a little longer."

Vinschpinsilstien sighed sadly, "If he still has not woken by now, he likely never will."

"Please. Just a few more minutes." Ellie clasped her hands, "Please."

Vinschpinsilstien rubbed her temple like she was nursing a headache, "Fine. We will wait a few more minutes."

I brushed Lincoln's bangs back from his eyes, which were closed like he was merely sleeping, "How long did it take Charles to wake up after his surgery?"

"After the Toppat space station explosion?" Vinschpinsilstien pushed her glasses up her nose, "It took only three hours at most. When I adjusted them the other day, it took only thirty minutes. That is what one usually expect, as augmentations are quick to integrate. After the twenty four hour mark, the chances of waking drop to almost zero percent. If he does not wake soon, there is no conceivable chance that he will."

Charles placed his hand over mine on the bed, "How close to zero?"

"Approximate one times ten to the power of twenty."

"Oh." Charles recoiled, "Oh my god."

"What!? What does that mean!?" I asked.

Charles made eye contact with Ellie, who squeezed Lincoln's hand harder as her eyes filled with fresh tears.

"It means that the chances of Lincoln waking up any time after right now are; Zero, followed by a decimal point, followed by twenty more zeros, and then there's a one right at the end."

A 0.000000000000000000001% chance.

"Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh' is right." Charles replied simply, "Doc, where'd you get that number?"

"Based on my experience with how augmentations integrate and how augmentations work." she eyed Lincoln's body, still stitched up from the neck to mid torso, "I've been doing this for twenty years. I have saved many lives this way, but many others die. In grand scheme, according to actual numbers, for every ten to the twentieth power of people who take this long to wake up, only one lives. All the rest die."

My head was spinning. Those weren't great odds. There weren't even ten to the twentieth people on the planet! Not even close!

"Wait, doesn't that just put his chance at zero?" Ellie's voice was dripping with hope, "Why bother with scientific notation on numbers that don't actually exist?"

"Because I'm aware of what might be possible. We have computers that run simulations based on real people, and there is real math that goes into these electronics." 

Vinschpinsilstien glanced between Lincoln and the life support cable. I could tell she wanted to just get it over with.

"His chances from here will begin to drop exponentially. However, there is good news."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Simple; Differences in brain chemistry and...um, I forget the English word for it. What is it when you study the physical body?"

"Anatomy?" I offered.

"Yes, thank you. Lincoln has a very different brain than any I've worked on, and so far, I have not seen his body trying to reject his new heart. However, that doesn't mean much. If Lincoln wakes up after these next few minutes, then all of that research is wrong."

Twenty years of cybernetic research was an intimidating resume, that's for sure.

"You don't seem that old." Charles remarked, "Twenty years?"

"Ah, yes. I've been studying it since nineteen."

"So you're thirty nine?"

"Correct."

"Huh. I see."

Still. Lincoln showed no signs of stirring.

"Please wake up, Lincoln." Ellie leaned over him, gently stroking his forehead, "Please. If you don't wake up..."

Her sentence broke with a sob.

She was quiet for a bit, just softly crying into her hands, until she lifted her head again, her hollow expression betraying the emptiness she felt on the inside.

I took Charles' hand beside me, and he gave mine a squeeze.

Ellie began to hum. I recognized the tune. My mom used to sing it for me when I couldn't sleep, and Aunt Penny did the same when she wasn't around. I hadn't heard the melody in so long, I'd almost forgotten it. It reawakened such old memories in me; Memories of a wonderful, if a little hectic childhood. A childhood with no trauma, no needles or withdrawal, no dead boyfriends, no Toppats or diamonds, no dying brothers...just a child with a family who loved him.

It made me realize just what kind of love Ellie had for this kid. Ellie was 24, almost 25, and Lincoln was 18. That meant she was 6 when he was born. Though they grew up together, she must have seen him grow up more than he saw her. When Ellie loved, she loved with everything in her. I knew that first hand, so the fact that she was so protective of Lincoln didn't surprise me. She gazed at him the way a mother would gaze at her child, despite the fact that they were only siblings.

She didn't raise him, but that didn't mean she wasn't attached.

I finally recognized what the song was. My mom used to tell me the story of La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman, who was denied entry to the afterlife because she killed her children and then herself. Mom didn't know the words, but she would still hum the tune for me. She told me that she always imagined the notes that went up and down were like the wind rolling over lush green hills. I insisted they were more like the swirls on a lollipop. Since the song got faster overtime, it was like going from the outside to the inside. Why? Well, who knows what goes on in the mind of a child?

Hearing it now, feeling the grief of losing Lincoln on top of the old grief of losing my mother...I realized that she was right. It was absolutely like wind over lush green hills, carrying the voice of a woman cursed to search for the souls of her children for the rest of all eternity.

Finally, the song was finished. Ellie kissed Lincoln on the forehead before rising from her seat, walking around the bed to hug me and Charles. We hugged her back.

_"I don't want him to go..."_ she cried, _"I don't want to say goodbye..."_

"I know, Ellie." Charles squeezed her, "We're here for you."

I looked over her shoulder at Lincoln, then at the clock. It would be twenty four hours in twelve seconds.

Almost too late.

"Come on, kiddo." I said to him, "Now's your last chance. We need you to wake up. You're scaring your sister."

Vinschpinsilstien reached for the cable again, but this time, nobody tried to stop her.

Each second that ticked by was torturous.

Five...four...three...two...

I squeezed my eyes shut. Had Dolche won in the end after all?

Vinschpinsilstien grasped the cable.

"Doc, wait."

She stopped. Charles had spoken. I expected him to be grieving like us, but instead, his face was scrunched up in confusion.

"What _is_ that?" he stepped back, shaking his left arm, "Is that just me?"

"What is it?" Vinschpinsilstien asked.

"I don't know. There's like this _buzzing_ in my arm and chest. Where is that coming from?"

The doctor quickly crossed the room, yanking up his sleeve and plugging his arm into the device in her hands. The string of sounds that left her mouth were certainly flavorful, but I didn't understand a word because it was all in Russian.

"Uh, think maybe you can repeat that?" I said in uncertainty.

"What Charles is experiencing is a rapid long-distance stress response. It is when two enhancements can feel each other, even if they belong to another person. Do you know what this means!?"

I saw Lincoln's hand twitch, and it sent a spark of electricity through my spine.

"Lincoln's heart." I said, "What you're feeling is Lincoln's heart!"

_"Yes!"_

Lincoln suddenly gasped, and the doc quickly removed the tube from his throat. He coughed into his fist.

"Lincoln!" Ellie returned to the side of the bed to hug him, "Don't scare me like that, kiddo! My heart can't take it!"

Vinschpinsilstien removed the IV from his arm and bandaged up the site, then she unplugged the life support machine. I feared it would hurt Lincoln, but now that he was awake, he didn't need it anymore.

"What was that?" Ellie gave her hand to Lincoln, palm facing up, "Say that again."

I was stunned. Lincoln was talking by tapping his finger across Ellie's hand like he was typing on a keyboard.

"You heard me singing?" Ellie wiped her eyes as Lincoln nodded, "Aw. Why didn't you wake up sooner?"

I looked at Lincoln's hand carefully, remembering how a keyboard was orientated, "I didn't think it mattered so much."

"So you didn't hear us when we said you were on limited time?"

"I thought I was dreaming."

"Oh..."

Well, it would take a long time for things to feel normal again, but I'm still here. I'm still breathing, and so were the people I cared about the most.

Somehow, that's all that mattered to me.

***

World-weary. That's how I felt right about now.

I yawned into my hand as I reached into my pocket for the apartment key. My backpack was heavy on my shoulders, my boots caked in dried mud from the rain. I was feeling restless again, so that was a sign that I needed to go. Instead of simply running though, I talked to Charles and Ellie about it first, taking my camping gear and driving up the road to the mountains. They agreed to let me go on the condition that I brought my phone with me and keep it charged, though I couldn't promise I would always have reception.

While I was out, I even decided to visit my mom's grave and bring her flowers, so not only was I physically drained, I was emotionally drained, too.

"I'm home!" I called into the apartment, closing the door behind me. I heard familiar sounds coming from the living room. It sounded like the old fighting game we had on our gaming console. I'd recognize _that_ annoying voice cue from a mile away.

"Haha!" Ellie was mashing the buttons on her controller like a madman, "I _told_ you I could beat you using any character!"

Lincoln took his left thumb off his controller to type into something on his wrist, though I knew he could easily play one-handed, _"Please! You only won because you broke my cheap combo!"_

Lincoln had this weird computer on his wrist that read out what he typed in a robotic voice. It honestly sounded kinda creepy, but if anything, Lincoln found my unease amusing, and it made communication easier for him, so really, who am I to complain?

"Guys! You're going too fast!" Charles was thrown off the arena, prompting the narrator to announce, _"GAME!"_ "Of course..."

_"Sorry, Charles."_

"It's fine. I'm not great at this game anyway, heh."

I stood behind the couch, "Guys!"

"Ah!" Ellie jumped, throwing her controller down as she beamed, "Henryyy!"

She climbed over the couch to kiss me, and I gasped into her mouth, "Sorry if I taste like dirt and sweat."

"Henryyyyy!" Charles ran to me, "My turn! My turn!" he kissed me multiple times, "Ah! I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" I was dizzy, "Yeesh! Give me a little warning next time!"

_"Gross!"_

"Shut up, gremlin!" Ellie pointed an accusatory finger at Lincoln, "You'll find love one day!"

He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well, you look tired." Ellie took my backpack off of me, carrying it back to the front door, "Lincoln, go home. I'm done babysitting your ass."

Lincoln left the fighting game on the victory screen, taking out his phone and typing out a quick message, covering the screen so Ellie wouldn't see.

"She likes to be choked."

My face turned bright red.

"Lincoln? What does that say?" Ellie grabbed for the phone, but Lincoln dodged, "Lincoln!? What is it, you little shit!?"

Lincoln bolted for the door, slamming it behind him as he snickered.

"Unbelievable." Ellie sighed, "I love him, but he is such a _kid brother_ sometimes!"

Charles glanced between the both of us, "Henry?"

I shook my head, "Nevermind. Why'd you send him home?"

"Because I have plans for you, Henry." Ellie grinned at me, "It's not what you're thinking, though. Come on. Lemme show you."

I know she just said it wasn't what I was thinking, but I thought of it anyway. It made me move a little stiffly.

"Ohh! I know what this is!" Charles wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Shh!" Ellie put a finger to her lips, "Don't spoil the surprise!"

Ellie turned on the bathroom light, swishing the shower curtain over the bathtub aside. It had been cleaned from floor to ceiling, and it had been fully restocked with soap.

Charles closed the door behind us, snapping me from my trance, "Umm..."

Ellie took my hands, "Have you figured it out yet?"

I slowly nodded, "Yeah, just...give me a second."

"Sure."

I liked to talk big and flaunt my confidence, but in reality, I was shy about my own body. This was exemplified by my many _many_ scars, which made people stare unless I covered them up, so I was used to staying covered. I was comfortable like that.

"Okay." I took a deep breath.

Ellie's smile turned soft, "You don't have to, Henry."

"I know, but I want to." I looked at my reflection in the mirror, "Just...I have a lot of new scars. I'm a little nervous."

"Henry, I have more scarred skin than intact skin, and the person behind you is a cyborg!"

"Right. Yeah. It's just..." I steeled my nerves, "Yeah. I know."

I gripped the hem of my hoodie and slowly pulled it up over my head. My shirt underneath was short-sleeved. I let the hoodie fall to the floor, and my arms prickled when they met nothing but open air.

Ellie traced one of the scars on my right wrist, "Why are you so nervous? We've seen you naked before."

"I know, but...it feels different. You guys don't usually _look_ at me like this."

"Is it because of your scars?"

"Kinda. I hate it when people stare. I know they can't always help it, I mean, I can't fault people for being curious or letting their eyes linger by accident, but I still hate it, and nothing makes people stare more than my scars."

"Henry..." Ellie's hands rested on my waist, "You look amazing."

"You're just saying that."

"I'm not. Your scars may be ugly, but to me, they only add to how handsome you are."

I could feel myself blushing.

"It's true, Henry." Charles placed his hands on my shoulders, "What if some people stare because they can't look away from how beautiful you are?"

I looked at my reflection again. My arms were covered in grey lines, all the way from my hands to my shoulders. I scrutinized myself; Bald head, round face, blue eyes with thin lashes, drawn lips, straight teeth aside from that one that got knocked out a few years back, flat nose...I tried to find what they were talking about. Where was this rugged handsomeness they seemed to see in me? I certainly didn't see anything. If anything, my appearance was somewhat typical, aside from all the scars of course.

"It's easy to see when you know what to look for." Charles ran his thumb across my cheek, from my mouth to my ear, "Here." then he touched my nose, tracing the line from my eyes up my forehead, "And here."

I looked again. I still didn't see it.

Still, I recognized that I had nothing to fear in front of them, so I grasped the hem of my shirt. Something stopped me, though. I don't know why, but I was suddenly overcome by anxiety that they found me so good-looking.

"Here." Ellie wrapped her arms around my torso, grasping my shirt and pulling it up over my head.

The cool air hit my skin, and I shivered, averting my gaze to the floor.

"You're okay, Hen." Ellie's hands moved up to my collarbone, "You know we'd never hurt you."

Goosebumps prickled all over me in response to her touch, "I know. Obviously."

Ellie traced a scar on my chest with one finger. I looked at my reflection again to distract myself from my racing heart. Some of my scars had much happier memories behind them, like the one across my forearm. I tried to do a trick on my friend's skateboard, and I scraped it on the road as I caught myself. I was like 11 at the time, I think.

I just caught Ellie's frustrated expression in the mirror before she kissed the scar she'd been tracing.

"Ah! Jeez, Ellie!"

"You weren't paying attention to me." she backed away, pulling her own shirt off over her head, "Anyway, let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

I tilted my head as she pulled her arms out of her bra straps and spun the garment backwards before unhooking it from the front.

"Ohhh." Charles said behind me, "I always wondered how you got that on and off without help."

She dropped her bra on the floor with a flourish before undressing the rest of the way and climbing into the bathtub, "Are you boys coming?"

I looked back at Charles, my gaze flicking down to his shirt. I hoped he took the hint, because I was feeling shy again.

He beamed, a light blush dusting his face as he took his jacket off, followed by his headphones, his undershirt, then his pants and boxers. The jagged scar along his cybernetics was his most prominent one, but I could just barely see a faded grey line under his right pectoral muscle. I don't know why I never noticed it before. Maybe because the only time I saw him shirtless before the explosion, it was just in passing, and I was too preoccupied with his other features to notice such well-healed, invisible scars.

Now that I was thinking about it though, there was something else I was curious about, so I asked, "Where did you get the name Charles?"

"Huh?" he smiled warmly, "Oh...it was my grandfather's name."

I blinked, "Really?"

"Yeah. He died a month before I was born." he explained, "My mom was devastated at the loss of her father, so she wanted to name her kid after him. I remember the day I came out to her, she said to me, 'Yunno kiddo, if you had been born a boy, I would've named you Charles.' It felt perfect, and I've been Charles ever since!"

"Oh. Well, it really suits you."

"Thank you!"

My eyes lingered over his body for too long, and all at once I remembered what we had been doing.

Charles unbuttoned my jeans, his thumbs hooking under the waistband against my skin, "Is this okay? You're still fine?"

I swallowed, wringing my hands together nervously, "Y-yeah. Just...try not to stare too much."

"I'll try, but you know that the human eye is naturally drawn to beautiful things, right?"

Before I had a chance to respond, he pulled my pants and boxers down, and I covered my face, which was entirely too warm.

He left the garments around my ankles, "Join us when you're ready, yeah?"

And then Charles hopped into the shower, pulling Ellie into a passionate kiss.

_That bastard!_ I kicked the clothes into the corner, nearly tripping myself in the process. I looked in the mirror one more time. My face was as red as Ellie's hair.

My eyes were drawn to a scar across the front of my thigh. It was from a knife fight, I think. It crossed with the scar I got from the ruined space suit from when Charles crashed into me with the secret government prototype. That one was more faint.

"Henry!"

"Sorry. Coming." I stepped into the bathtub and pulled the shower curtain closed.

They'd already turned the water on, and Ellie was adjusting the temperature as it flattened her hair. Charles cupped his hands under the water, gathering some of it before pouring it over me, then he took my favorite body wash from the shelf and lathered it into my neck and shoulders.

I closed my eyes. The feeling of the loosening dirt and Charles' hands over my skin made me weak in the knees. His organic hand was calloused from years of helicopter flying, while his cybernetic hand was smooth, with ridges between the joints to allow for regular movement. I felt someone's lips against mine, though at first, I couldn't tell which one of them had kissed me.

_"Keep your eyes closed."_ Charles whispered against my ear.

I obeyed as the lips returned. Soft hands trailed down my back, both organic. Lips brushed against my neck, then my shoulder. Charles' hands held my head against his lips while Ellie's lips wandered to my chest, leaving a trail of kisses between my scars.

"Oh my god...guys..." I reached for them, my right hand landing on Charles' cheek while my left rested on Ellie's back, _"Guys..."_

Ellie's breath ghosted over my collarbone, "You okay, Hen?"

"Mhm." I mumbled against Charles' mouth, "God...I love you guys. I fucking love you guys so much."

"We love you too, Henry." Charles kissed my cheek, "Oh, you can open your eyes now if you want."

I did. Charles was gazing at me softly. Sweetly. Ellie's head rested on my shoulder as she looked up at me, one eye squinted shut. I ran my fingers through her hair, spurring her on.

She moved so she was behind me, her arms wrapping around my stomach as her cheek pressed against my back. Charles held me against him so his chest was pressing into mine, and he kissed me again. Ellie's hands migrated to my sides. Her lips traced my shoulder blades.

"This is my reminder to you..." Ellie said slowly, "...of why you keep coming back."

I didn't respond. I was too busy floating in my own personal heaven to say anything.

_This is it._ that familiar voice said to me, much kinder than it had ever been before...

_This is what you've been fighting for all along._

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on tumblr! marshemillow.tumblr.com


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